JOY CYTRYN
Kayaking in Jamaica Bay
Joy Cytryn
Ph.D. Student
Geography Specialization
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Graduate Center, CUNY
Advisor: William Solecki
Academics
I was determined to return to school after a career in international business and fundraising. I enrolled in Hunter College for a post-graduate GIS, Geographic Information Systems program. GIS is the foundation of GPS and spatial analysis and includes computer-aided cartography. I was enraptured by geography and cartography and pursue a Master's degree. Upon completing my studies at Hunter, I applied to The Graduate Center of the City University of New York for a Ph.D.
Research Interests
The geographic focus of my research and studies has been the Jamaica Bay estuary in New York City. Hence, all the images of wetlands and water.
My master's thesis analyzed the historical events of land use/land cover change in the Jamaica Bay estuary. Before colonization, a mile-wide swath of wetlands surrounded Jamaica Bay. Beginning in the mid-1800s, the local landscape started a complete and irrevocable change as the wetlands were landfilled for other uses. The anticipated profit from the development along the Atlantic Ocean strongly motivated private investment in real estate and transportation.
My Ph.D. dissertation continues to explore my interest in wetlands. The overarching question is whether government policy protects wetlands. I explore this question by looking at airports. Many of the major airports in the US were built on wetlands between 1940 and 1970. I look at the development, construction, renovation, and expansion of three United States airports and whether the Clean Water Act and NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, are effective.
Education
1986
Stern School of Business, New York University, NY
Master of Business Administration in Finance and Intl Business
1976
School of Visual Arts, Long Island University, Greenvale, NY
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design
2014
Hunter College, City University of New York, NY
Post Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science
2015
Hunter College, City University of New York, NY
Master of Arts in Geography
Present
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, NY
Ph.D. Candidate Earth and Environmental Sciences - Geography
Research Experience
2023
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Managing Editor, Journal of Extreme Events
2022
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Editor, Case studies of how cities adapt to environmental crises.
2023
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Managing Editor, Journal of Extreme Events
2022
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Case studies of how cities adapt to environmental crises.
2021
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Case studies of how cities adapt to environmental crises.
2020
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Cycles of Engagement, Science and Resilience Institute of Jamaica Bay
2018
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Environmental History of Jamaica Bay: A Foundational Monograph, William Solecki, Ph.D. and John Waldman, Ph.D.
2016
Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn, NY
Part-Time Science and Management Fellowship
2013
Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Program for Urban Global Systems (PUGS), Department of Geography, Peter Marcotullio, Ph.D.
2011
Research Foundation, City University of New York, NY
Part-Time Research Assistant, Institute for Sustainable Cities, CUNY
William Solecki, Ph.D.
2010
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY
Intern, The Welikia Project and The Mannahatta Project,
Eric Sanderson, Ph.D.
Papers
Published
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Solecki, William D, John R. Waldman, and M. Joy Cytryn. 2021. A Hinge in History: Environmental Transformation of New York’s Jamaica Bay. In Coastal Metropolis: Environmental Histories of Modern New York City, edited by Carl A. Zimring and Steven H. Corey, 1st ed., 39–54. History of the Urban Environment. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press.
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Solecki, William; Waldman, John; Cytryn M. Joy (working paper) The Great Transformation of New York’s Jamaica Bay: Environmental Change Revealed through Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Local Newspaper Accounts, Coastal Metropolis: Environmental Histories of Modern New York
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Cytryn, M. Joy; Patrick, L.; Parris, A. Eds. (2017) State of the Bay Symposium Report, 2016. Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. 52 pp.
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Cytryn, M. Joy, (Fall 2015). Thesis Transportation and Sanitation Drivers of Land Use/Land Cover Change: Loss of the Jamaica Bay Wetlands http://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/9
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Unpublished Academic Papers
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Cytryn, M. Joy, (Spring 2012). Spartina alterniflora (Saltmarsh cordgrass): An Indicator of the Health of Jamaica Bay’s Low Salt Marsh, Transitions in Urban Environmental Systems
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Cytryn, M. Joy, Devlin, J., Link, H., (Spring 2012). Oysters in Jamaica Bay? Resilience in an Ecologically Degraded Waterway, Transitions in Urban Environmental Systems
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Cytryn, M. Joy, (Spring 2012). Wetlands of Jamaica Bay, Independent Study
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