Virtual Aquapolis is an immersive virtual reality (VR) and interactive web experience that invites visitors to explore the past, present and future of New York Harbor from beneath the surface of the water. Virtual Aquapolis will examine the Harbor as a dynamic ecological and cultural crossroads transformed by human beliefs, knowledge and values, and as a hydrological commons, shaped by inequality and exclusion. Visitors will experience 500 years of human-driven transformation in five scenes, each depicting a key era in the Harbor’s underwater environmental history.
PROJECT DIRECTORS
Laura Chipley is a Queens based multimedia artist whose recent projects include ‘The Newtown Creek Armada’ – an interactive boat pond created in a New York Superfund site and The Appalachian Mountaintop Patrol, a collaborative, environmental watchdog and multimedia education initiative that works with West Virginia environmental activists to use documentary filmmaking, drones, environmental sensors and surveillance technology to chronicle the effects of Mountaintop Removal coal mining. Laura’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and Wired Magazine. Her projects have been supported by organizations such as Art Matters, the Hudson River Foundation, and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Laura was awarded an A Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art in 2015, and received a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Projects for the Public Grant in 2020 and 2024. She is currently an Associate Professor of Media & Communications at the State University of New York at Old Westbury.
Samara Smith works at the intersection of documentary, social practice, and emerging technology. Her work often explores, and is experienced in, public space. She received a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Projects for the Public Grant in 2020 and 2024. In 2016, she produced Central Park: Democratic Playground, a GPS-triggered soundwalk narrated by former parks commission Adrian Benepe, for the Detour App. Her media projects have been experienced in public spaces in Greensboro, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Brooklyn and beyond, and exhibited at museums, galleries and festivals–Hammer Museum, New York Transit Museum, Queens Museum, Elsewhere Museum, Open Source Gallery, Open Engagement, Conflux Festival, Fabric of Freedom, and more. At SUNY Old Westbury, Smith teaches documentary, journalism and emerging media, she co-founded the Media Innovation Center where she recently oversaw a $1.125 million renovation of the teaching studios. In 2022, she received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service.
Contact: Please call the American Studies office at State University of New York at Old Westbury to leave us a message or find our emails on the SUNY Old Westbury’s website.
DESIGN CONSULTANTS (PHASE ONE):
Ashok Basawapatna is a computer science professor at SUNY Old Westbury. His research focuses on engaging and motivating underrepresented populations in computer science using a project first based approach to computational thinking through end-user programming tools including low threshold-high ceiling cyber learning environments. Professor Basawapatna worked as a researcher at the University of Colorado, FHNW Switzerland and as a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Erin Becker is the Visitor Services & Volunteer Coordinator at Long Island Maritime Museum. As a scholar Becker takes a multi-dimensional approach to understanding maritime economies. Erin’s research focused on Long Island Native people—specifically how women in the Shinnecock, Montaukett, and Unkechaug nations—participated in the deep-sea whaling industry, fishing industry, and the military. Her work in museums grapples with investing local peoples in their resources as stakeholders through outreach, education, and public programming. She holds an MA in History from Stony Brook and an MS in Nonprofit Administration.
Liz Canner is an award-winning filmmaker, digital artist and writer who creates films, cross-platform digital media projects, and installations. She often employs cutting-edge technologies to explore human rights and environmental issues. She is the producer/director of The Lost City of Mer, a cross-platform interactive experience combining a smartphone app with virtual reality. Her work has played at more than 100 film festivals internationally, been theatrically released, broadcast on TV globally, and streamed in 41 countries. She has received over 60 awards, and grants for her work including an NEA grant, the Dartmouth College Visionary Award and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Dr. Melissa Checker is a Hagedorn Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College / Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center. Her work focuses on environmental justice and urban sustainability in the United States. She is the author of The Sustainability Myth: Environmental Gentrification and the Politics of Justice. Her book, Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Southern Town won the 2007 Association for Humanistic Sociology Book Award. She holds a PhD from NYU in Anthropology.
Dr. Michael Chiarappa is a Research Professor of Chesapeake Regional Studies and Director of Cultural and Natural Resource Initiatives at Washington College. He is an active public historian and public humanities scholar committed to collaborations between universities/ colleges and the wider community. Dr. Chiarappa’s research focuses on marine-related environmental and cultural history and ethnography of the United States. Notable for this project is Dr. Chiarappa’s research on NYC’s Oyster Barges and his historical writing about Delaware Bay. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeremy Dennis is an artist and tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, NY. His work explores Indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation. Using digital photography, he creates images that reference the most common depictions of Indigenous people “to create conversations about uncomfortable themes of postcolonialism.” His project, On This Site, uses photography and an interactive online map to showcase culturally significant Native American sites. Dennis gathers and combines archaeological, anthropological, historical, and oral stories to answer essential cultural defining questions: Where did my ancestors live? Why did they choose these places? What happened to them over time? Do these places still exist? Dennis was awarded a 2016 Dreamstarter Grant from Running Strong for American Indian Youth. Jeremy serves on the advisory board of the Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation, The Church of Sag Harbor, Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc., and WNET Group’s THIRTEEN/WLIW Community Advisory Board.
Robin Espinola is a documentary producer and writer with over twenty-five years of experience creating historical programs for PBS. In 2019, she was awarded the Eric Barnouw Prize from the Organization of Historians for her work producing and co-writing The Chinese Exclusion Act with Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu. She has served as a producer for numerous other NEH-supported projects including: The Pilgrims, Death and the Civil War, and Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World (all directed by Ric Burns). With Burns, she produced Nueva York, a film for museum exhibition which was created in consultation with El Museo del Barrio and the New-York Historical Association. Espinola served as series archivist for Burns’s epic documentary series NEW YORK: A Documentary Film. Most recently, Espinola has been working as a story producer for “true crime” documentaries including “Murder on Middle Beach” and Season 2 of “The Vow” for HBO.
Dominika Ksel is an interdisciplinary artist investigating unseen forces that inform our physical and immaterial realities. Through community collaboration, sonic sculptures, VR and video, Ksel uses gameplay and interactivity to map power dynamics, research consciousness, embodied cognition and interspecies collaboration. She produced a VR project about Myth, Media, Climate Change and Antarctic and another for Montefiore Hospital, currently featured on the Center For the Humanities website. She also teaches a New Media class exploring Urban Climate Justice through VR/AR and 360 video at City Tech.
Dr. David Soll is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire who researches the history of water. His book, Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York Water Supply, follows the history of the city’s water supply. Through this history, Soll reveals larger shifts in environmental philosophy, ethics and practice throughout the twentieth century. He holds a PhD in History from Brandeis University.
Kate Stevenson is the founder of DotDot an award-winning creative studio focused on generating impact through social and immersive experiences. Exploring the boundaries of technology, art and design, DotDot creates experiences that are memorable, playful, and interactive. DotDot services include: Creative Collaboration (developing creative direction and content that is experience and story driven); R&D Lab (rapid prototyping and experimentation, building custom tools, using technology to solve problems, tell stories and bring people together); and Creative Tech Production (delivering creative technology solutions with an understanding of sustainability).
Dr. David Stradling is a Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati, who teaches urban and environmental history and is the author of several books, including The Nature of New York: An Environmental History of the Empire State (Cornell University Press, 2010). He has also written about dumping in the New York Bight. His current research focuses on dredging and underwater infrastructure. He serves as co-editor of the Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy series at Temple University Press. He holds a PhD in History from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. John Waldman is a Professor of Biology at Queens College whofocuses on historical ecology and urban waterways. Before joining Queens College, he worked for 20 years at the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research. Central to the project,Waldman wrote Heartbeats in the Muck: A Dramatic Look at the History, Sea Life. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from City University of New York/American Museum of Natural History.
Curtis Zunigha, co-founder and co-director of the Lenape Center, was elected chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians from 1994–1998. The Delaware are originally known as Lenape in their traditional language and culture. The Lenape Center is a nonprofit based in New York City which promotes the history and culture of the Lenape people (a.k.a. Delaware Indians) through the arts, humanities, and social identity. (www.thelenapecenter.com). As a tradition-bearer of the Lenape culture he has proficiency in language, history, customs, singing and leading Lenape social dances.