Pace Students Win $12K for Environmental Tech Incubator

Students at Pace University are turning environmental data into community action, and they're getting recognized for it just months into a new program.

The Gale Epstein Center for Technology, Policy and the Environment launched this semester at Pace's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Despite its short existence, the center has already sparked award-winning student projects that tackle water quality and environmental transparency.

Three Seidenberg students recently earned $12,000 in funding to create a business incubator focused on environmental information systems. Silas Gonzalez, Lizi Imedashvili, and Victor Lima beat out 58 other proposals in the annual Project Planet competition to secure the grant.

Their winning idea centers on Blue CoLab, a nonprofit initiative that develops tools to track environmental conditions. The students plan to make these water quality monitoring systems available to schools, libraries, and local governments for free.

"Our goal is to fulfill the public's right to know the environmental conditions in which they live," Gonzalez explained. The project earned $6,000 from Project Planet, with philanthropist Gale Epstein matching the amount to bring total funding to $12,000.

The center also hosted its first Student Environmental Congress, bringing 28 students from underserved communities in Newburgh and Newark to campus. These young researchers spent the day presenting studies on their local waterways, the Hudson and Passaic Rivers, then developed recommendations for making urban rivers more sustainable.

Why This Inspires

The event showcased something powerful: students from challenging neighborhoods leading the charge on environmental solutions. Project manager Lizi Imedashvili, who helped organize the congress, called the students' optimism and vision worthy of national attention.

Executive Director John Cronin, who guides the center alongside Epstein's support, has already been appointed to the Millennium Campus Network's Civic Learning Council. This global leadership body advances United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through student initiatives worldwide.

The center's rapid success shows what happens when universities give students real tools and trust them to solve real problems. Technology-driven environmental transparency isn't just a classroom concept at Pace anymore.

Young innovators are proving that access to information can transform how communities understand and protect their environment.