By Maizy Swift, Asst. Production editor

The Eastern Economic Association held its 49th Annual conference at the Sheraton in New York City, where they presented information on their current research from several studies they have been conducting. 

Christopher Machol, a senior at Manhattan College, was one of the presenters at the conference. Machol did his research on the Bronx River and its water quality. 

“I’ve been working  on this project for about a year or so,” Machol explained, “ and the inspiration for it came from my internship at the Bronx River Alliance, which is a nonprofit organization in the South Bronx.”

The Bronx River Alliance has a goal to raise the water quality of the Bronx River, which is what inspired Machol to research this specific topic. 

“The purpose of that organization is to revitalize the Bronx River and then also enhance the water quality so that the communities in the area can access it. So my research specifically was looking at the solar panel system that they have on the headquarters of their building, and I used that data and then I combined it with weather data from LaGuardia Airport, and then I determined how weather impacted energy production.”

The issue Machol is researching has an effect on the community, as helping with water and air pollution in the area could increase income and standard of living.

“It’s located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, and so it also has a disproportionate amount of air pollution,” Machol said, “so by promoting these kinds of sustainable developments in low income areas that are burdened by polluting, we’re able to reduce the pollution burden as well as provide the communities with, in this case, they’re not being provided with income but if they were to put the same solar panel installation on houses in this area, then that would have a income effect there.”

In fact, there has been some improvement, as the Bronx River has been visited by some new wildlife recently.

“Just trying to outreach, trying to make the community more aware of the amenities that are available and how far that the river has come in recent decades because now there were dolphins in the river a few weeks ago.”

Dr. Jimena González Ramírez, a professor at MC, also presented research at the Conference. She had two presentations, the first of which on different teaching styles. 

“The first one was part of a teaching…