All people have a right-to-know the environmental conditions in which they live. The goals of the Gale Epstein Center include: advancing real-time technologies and information systems for the protection of human and environmental health; reforming public policy to guarantee the public’s right-to-know; and enhancing public understanding of the environment around them through science, technology and education.

Pace University Launches the Gale Epstein Center

for Technology, Policy and the Environment

Gift establishes new center advancing the environmental right-to-know.

Pace University is pleased to announce the Gale Epstein Center for Technology, Policy, and the Environment, made possible by a significant gift from Gale Epstein, a New York City-based philanthropist and business leader. Pace President Marvin Krislov and Ms. Epstein celebrated at a signing ceremony for the Center’s strategic plan. The new center is housed in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Professor John Cronin will serve as executive director.

The Gale Epstein Center is dedicated to advancing technologies and policies that ensure the public’s right to know the environmental conditions that can threaten their communities. Its primary focus includes creating real-time sensing, information and warning systems, as well as advocating for public policy reforms to implement these technologies effectively. A key priority is the development of a nationwide alert system to warn consumers of drinking water dangers before consumption— an initiative that will save millions of people from preventable illnesses, according to Professor Cronin. Read the full announcement here.  Read the Center’s Strategic Plan here.  More about Gale Esptein here 

Our Locations and Labs

The Center has the benefit of diverse facilities and technologies, including our Data Lab in Rm. 315 in Goldstein Academic Center, our Choate Pond Living Lab in the center of the Pleasantville campus, and our Real-Time Tech Lab overlooking the Hudson. The Center will continue with and expand upon Blue CoLab, adding new monitoring capabilities such as air, sea level, and real-time water monitoring on the Pocantico and Hudson Rivers.

Staff Profile: Justin Brandon

Justin Brandon, the Virginia Letourneau Technology Intern, is our chief technician and director of the Real-Time Tech Lab. When Justin first related to us his experience as a U.S. Army veteran clambering up telecommunications poles in Afghanistan, we grabbed him. He appeared in a recent “Hero” profile on the Pace website where he modestly described his job. “Consulting with the teams on their projects and making sure that the equipment they need—the sensors, data loggers, and water quality monitoring devices—all work together in the way that they should.”  See the full profile here.

The Global Impact of Our Emerging Technologists

As U.N. Millennium Fellows, members of our Blue CoLab team were chosen to be the subjects of an internationally distributed video about emerging technology and the human right-to-know the quality of drinking water. In two quick minutes the video also communicates the activity and camaraderie that infuses the launch of the Gale Epstein Center.

Center Staff Advocates for Advancing Tech Policy

Using Op Eds, official regulatory comments, and their internships Center staff advocate for technological innovations that protect human and environmental health, with a special emphasis on drinking water. Click article below by executive director John Cronin, and read the extensive comments he and Leanna Machado, our technology and policy intern, submitted to US EPA regarding protection of water consumers.

Listen as our Interns Transform Data into Music

Many people think of data in one of two ways — the Star Trek character, or the green streaming Matrix code. Our interns created a third – – music composed from water data: