Hard Work, Getting Rewarded!

On September 25^th, our team conducted a phone interview with the chairman of the planning board of Chelsea.  Our group was excited to get more feedback from the boards that we were writing the guidelines for.  The phone interview gave our team some important insight that we did not consider so it modified the scope of the project for our team.  Our team had also been working more on how we were analyzing our interviews.  This is where this last interview had a little bit of a difference than the rest.  The interview was not as accepting of climate change and there was some skepticism surrounding the topic. Our team put in a lot of hours on the train, doing work after midnight on the train ride home from the Red Sox game.

Working on the train after a Red Sox game.

After most of the transcripts for all of the interviews were completed, our team organized the data into matrices so it was easier to compare the answers to similar questions and to make sure we could fully look at each interview.  The answers from the interviews will be used to help make the guidelines and the recommendations the most accommodating and the most fitting for the city of Chelsea for them to be able to use.   It is pretty neat to see how far the project has come and how much the project has changed.  The group overall has gotten a lot stronger and the group has grown significantly along with the project.  It will be exciting to see how the project goes down the final stretch.

The IQP team with Mookie Betts during the NESN telecast!

While typing up the final interview transcript for the phone interview on Sunday, during the Red Sox / Yankees game on NESN, our team was selected as the #NESNFANPHOTO of the game.  That was cool to get our teams picture on the TV and to spread awareness of Climate Change with Mookie Betts!  Our team could not believe that we were on the TV screen!

Fenway Funday!

Wednesday was a really busy day for our team. We started our day off by rearranging and editing our background chapter. We're really excited now about the changes we've made and we finally feel like everything is falling into place. Reading over the changes that we made on Wednesday, I'm really excited about the report we've been working on!

Making use of the projector to go over our background chapter!

At 1pm we had our sponsor meeting and were really excited to go over our team's progress. Santiago showed all the mapping data that he's created so far and we learned about which colors we should use on the maps to make them most effective.We went over all the sensitivity analysis tables we created, the interview matrices and we were able to share a lot of what we learned through our busy schedule of interviews last week. I felt that this was our most productive meeting and that both our advisors and sponsors were really pleased with the progress we've made.

Leaving our meeting, we emailed out our background chapter and headed out for some really fun team bonding! We spent the rest of the day at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays. This is something our team has been planning since ID 2050, and I was really excited to finally get to see the Red Sox this season (even though they're having a really bad year). It was "Fan Photo Day" and so we got to stand on the field and take pictures with a lot of the players.

Santiago and I, with Red Sox third baseman Garin Cecchini,
before he hit his first major league home run 

This was even more special because it was Santiago's first baseball game and first time at Fenway; he even got on the jumbo tron! 

The Red Sox ended up winning 11-3, even while starting 7 rookies! It was an awesome night of baseball, hot dogs, singing and de-stressing, after a really positive and productive day of working on our project.

Going over our agenda and the notes from the meeting while in our seats!

Boston Harbor Cruise

     

     On Monday September 22nd, our team attended a Boston Harbor Cruise with the other groups from the Boston IQP Group and our advisor Prof. Tuler. It was very enjoyable since the day was very nice out, and it allowed us to have a break from work.  We had the chance to share our team accomplishments with other teams and to get to know more of Boston. It was interesting to see all the ships in the port and how everything looks from the sea. This cruise also gave us the chance to see more of Boston. We also learned about the progress of other groups; it is impressing to realize how much can be done in a week.

The Epiphany!

Lauren, Jill, and I in Chelsea, MA after an interview

Shortly after completing a majority of the scheduled interviews, our group started going into analysis mode.  We started to think about the direction of our project and on the changes that we would make to ensure that our project met what the city of Chelsea wanted for the final project.  On September 19^th, our group returned to the Worcester Community Project Center (WCPC) and we started to type out and go over as a group what we were completing.  We realized, the epiphany, that our project like we thought was indeed going the way we wanted it to, just we were able to switch the focus of the GIS mapping to ensure that our final deliverable would indeed be used by the city. 

One of the considerations that our team thought was interesting from interviewing the developers was that the scope was very different of which considered climate change and which did not.  Personally, I was very impressed with how the interviews went and with each interview, we learned more and more and attained useful information that could help us achieve our final goal.  With our project objectives now tightened and more oriented, the project will be more clear and informative for the city of Chelsea’s use.  There was a lot of discussion to get all of the final ideas to the surface and a lot of brain power, but I am very excited for how our project will be completed.

Jill, Santiago, and I working hard at the WCPC

Our team will be wrapping up our final interviews this upcoming week and by the end of the week, we should have our deliverables.  The ideas are flowing, the GIS maps are being overlayed,  and the interviews are being analyzed.  This will ensure that our deliverables will be useful for the boards of Chelsea, along with the educating factor that goes along with them.  This is any dream that the project that you spent months on will actually make an impact.  It will be electrifying to see how the final product turns out.

Interviews!

Lunch at Quincy Market after meeting a developer on State St.

Last week we started contacting developers and city board members as well as one student from Harvard who completed a similar project. The positive feedback we received from people was very exciting. Most responded within a day and said they were happy to meet with us.

This week we have already have completed six interviews and have gotten a lot of really good information. The developers were really helpful in allowing us to understand their side of the problem. They want to limit their costs when building as much as possible and don’t see a need to spend extra on adapting their building to climate change unless given a good reason or incentive. The boards said that they wanted to see more changes to the city that would protect the city from the risks of climate change but at the same time they did not want to deter developers from wanted to build there because of added high costs that other cities don’t have. One of the most exciting interviews we have had was with Erica Blonde, a Harvard graduate student who last year did a project very similar to ours in Chelsea. It was great to hear what type of research her group did and what type of adaptations they came up with. She is going to send along some of the information that she and her group used that she feels will be beneficial to our group. She was very excited about the project and already expressed interest in coming to see our group’s presentation at the Boston Public Library.

             We plan to start taking all of the results from our interviews into a matrix that will allow us to analyze the important information in a way that will help us create our guidelines for the boards. Overall, I am excited to see our project finally coming together with some concrete results and not just the literature research that we have already done. 

A picture in front of the apartment complex of the developer we met with

ArcGIS: the beginning

Lauren and I working on GIS mapping

After our GIS tutorial with Prof. Mathisen, we began working with ArcGIS to look at the information available in MASS GIS. We started by importing the maps and then looking at the diverse information fields that these GIS maps have. We also clipped out all the other towns' information that we don't need. We are still trying to decide which fields are especially relevant to our project. In the picture you can see a map of the city of Chelsea. Learning to use ArcGIS was a little challenging but a lot of fun! ArcGIS is a very powerful program, and I enjoy using it.

Interview Preparation

Over the past week, our group has been preparing to interview with Chelsea, MA board members and developers who have projects in the Everett Avenue area. I am excited to begin our interviewing process, and I think that we will gain a lot of valuable information from those who we are talking to. We have set up a set of specific questions to ask in our interviews. To help organize and be ready for our upcoming interviews, we began separating our general questions into more specific groups. We tailored questions specific to each board and developer, as well as deciding which questions should be asked to all. Here you can see Santiago and I organizing our questions and deciding who they are revelant for.


Me and Santiago organizing our questions

while being careful not to disturb the MIT Sea Grant fish

GIS Tutorial

Our team and Prof. Mathisen.

On September 5^th , we had the opportunity to attend to a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tutorial taught by our advisor Prof. Mathisen. Prof. Mathisen incorporates GIS in his courses at WPI. This tutorial was aimed to instruct us in how to use ArcGIS tools to manipulate and create maps. During the tutorial, Prof. Mathisen utilized ArcGIS to overlay different maps that were downloaded from the MassGIS database. The files we downloaded were ZIP files that contained different formats such as image data, vector data, etc., and we had to search and find the one that was the most useful to us. We learned how to change the colors of maps, display some of the maps features, obtain some of the data that is in the map files, select specific layers in a map, etc. Some of the maps we looked at were: the contour data, town outlines and coastal line maps. Additionally, we learned that we must add a North arrow and a scale to the maps we produce for our report.Thanks for the help Prof. Mathisen :)! 

FEMA Emergency Preparedness Day - Boston, MA.

Keith talking to Nulise, the FEMA mitigation expert

When our team was leaving Boston on September 4^th and arrived at South Station, we noticed that there was a FEMA disaster preparedness table.  The table consisted of fliers and information on what the general public could do be smart in many types of natural disasters.  I first came into contact with Robert Keller, the Regional Preparedness Liaison for the Boston area.  We started to talk about the project a bit and he gave many informative fliers on Emergency Supply Lists, how to prepare for floods, how to prepare for hurricanes, as well as different alert systems that are in place.  Getting a basic knowledge and just getting the levels of preparedness up can help avert a serious crisis.  Robert then informed me that outside by the radio truck, there was a mitigation expert so I went to seek her help.

When I arrived outside, I asked if the mitigation expert was around.  I was kindly greeted by Nulise Francois who is the emergency mgt. specialist for Region 1 with FEMA.  We talked a bit about our project and I brought her to meet the team and we all started to talk about what her experience was and on how she could help our project.  She actually had done some work in Chelsea on lightening which was interesting and she offered to help give our team guidance if we did need it later on.  Before our team left, around the corner of the table, there were some cool refrigerator magnets that informed people about Boston flooding so we had to take one J.  We found it very exciting to see other people doing work in the same field so we wanted to share our project with them.  We have yet to decide if the information is relevant to our project but it was very inspiring to talk to them.  It was another aspect that we were considering and it is cool to see an organization do outreach to the public.

Meeting with Sponsors from Sea Grant and Chelsea 9/3/14

Wednesday we had our first sponsor meeting with Julie Simpson, Judith Pederson, John DePriest, John Gelcich, Seth Tuler and Paul Mathisen. Our meeting was very productive. We now have a very clear idea of what our final deliverable will be based on what we have heard from Mr. DePriest and Mr. Gelcich. We will be providing best management practices to the planning board, the zoning board, and the conservation commission. We received a list of contacts from Mr. Gelcich to be able to contact and interview developers with questions.

            A lot of ideas were thrown around. Much of what was discussed was the wording of what we right. We have had a few problems with choosing how to word our objectives. We have changed our first objective from assessing vulnerability to identifying vulnerability.

            Our project is much more focused and clarified. With this in mind our project seems much more attainable, and something that will be extremely helpful to the city of Chelsea. I am very excited to get back to working this term!

The Team's First Day in Boston!

Jill and Lauren working hard on the train to Boston

The team arrived early in the morning on September 2nd on the train eager to get started.  The team planned the day through a lot of hard work on the train ride, taking full advantage of the tables in the train.  After arriving at South Station the team took the T to the MIT Sea Grant building.  The group set up camp and then took a tour on the area that they will be working for the next seven weeks.  The group was met by Julie Simpson who showed the team around, introducing everyone to the staff and the team felt very welcomed.  After the tour, there was a quick lunch break of Chipotle and then the team met Judith Pederson who helped give a run down on the game plan for the upcoming term.  After, the team took at tour of the campus that they would be set up at, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Our Team on the tour of MIT

The Boston Climate team went on an informative tour of the MIT campus lead by the quirky tour guide Miles.  The team learned all about the campus’ history along with the traditions and hacks that the students have done.  The tour lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and the campus was set up very different than WPIs.   The campus was a lot bigger and the guide was able to answer the many questions that the group was asking.  Minus one little bump of the guide walking into the tree, some of the more memorable moments were the stories that captured the attention of the group.  We ended the tour of finding out about the academics MIT and the system did differ much from that of WPIs but both focus on more of a technological education.  This has set the experience up to be such a great one and the team is very excited about the opportunity.  Our team has a very strong support system to ensure that we succeed on our project goal and now that we have a better idea of the layout of the land, it will make an easier transition.

Chelsea at MIT Sea Grant Symposium



Left to Right: Leo Robinson, John DePriest, John Bolduc

Being able to attend MIT Sea Grant’s climate change symposium on sustaining coastal cities was truly a wonderful opportunity. In addition to learning so much about climate change and what actions can be taken to lessen its impacts, I gained a greater connection to the IQP project. One of the speakers at the first day of the symposium, Leo Robinson, the city councillor of Chelsea, MA, made a speech that allowed people to really get to know his city. Even without the use of a slideshow presentation like many had used, Mr. Robinson painted a beautiful picture of Chelsea, its community, and its important connection to the water. He explained the importance of the city’s ties to the water and the need for action to prevent devastation from climate change. It was a sincere speech that made me truly care about the city that we will be working with, and it gave me even more excitement to work on this project with my group. Talking to Mr. Robinson after the first day of the symposium had concluded, he seemed grateful for the work our group was planning on doing and had a great sense of pride for the city. He invited us to contact him whenever we are in Chelsea and offered to give us a tour of his city. Hopefully we get the opportunity to meet up with him this coming term.

I recommend watching Mr. Robinson’s speech regarding Chelsea, MA and climate change to experience his words yourselves here:

MIT Sea Grant Climate Change Symposium: Sustaining Coastal Cities

This past June 16^th – 18^th we had the opportunity to attend the Climate Change Symposium: Sustaining Coastal Cities at the MIT Tang Center. We were invited by Dr. Pederson and Dr. Simpson from MIT Sea Grant (our project’s sponsor). This symposium was an excellent opportunity to learn how the country (and even other countries) are preparing for Climate Change. It helped me get a better perspective of all the issues that affect Coastal Communities, and it reiterated the importance of preparing for the changes that will come. The symposium encompassed Climate Change projections, and scenarios, modeling tools, social vulnerability, economic impacts, challenges with the built environment, and planning and implementation. All the sessions were very enriching and interesting, and it was a very valuable experience for us.

 The speakers presented a new degree of complexity for the different modeling tools available to model Climate Change, existing challenge with the legislation and how there is still a lot of work to do. This symposium definitely helped us get a better perspective with all the aforementioned issues, and it will be of great value for our report. From the City of Chelsea, Mr. DePriest and Mr. Robinson spoke about the challenges they are currently facing and the characteristics of the city; they expressed the importance of incorporating Climate Change considerations within the redevelopment efforts that are taking place in the city of Chelsea. I truly appreciate this opportunity presented by MIT Sea Grant (especially Judith Pedersen and Judith Simpson).

Welcome from the Climate Group

Welcome to the blog for our Boston Climate group.  Our team consists of (from left to right) Lauren Richard, Santiago Rojas, Jillian Hennessy, and Keith Guay.  This photo is from our final presentations of our preparatory course for our project called ID2050.  In the course we planned our project that we would complete with MIT Sea Grant College Program for Chelsea, Massachusetts. Our team is ready to work and we are excited to be making a difference with our Interactive Qualifying project for a municipality that can appreciate our help.  Please keep checking back to the blog to see updates from our project multiple times a week.