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Clifton Participates with NJ Gov. Phil Murphy, NASA and Other Educators for DRBC’s Inaugural Climate Change Forum

(This news release was issued with targeted distribution)

For Immediate Release

March 8, 2021

(West Trenton, N.J.) -- Hillary Clifton, an environmental science teacher at the Environmental Sustainability and Engineering Academy in Glen Gardner, N.J., was one of only 15 teachers selected to attend the Delaware River Basin Commission's (DRBC) Forum on Climate Change and the Delaware River Basin, held March 2, 2021. The inaugural event was kicked off by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who serves as a DRBC Commissioner, and has been an active leader in the study of and planning for climate change in the region.

"This program is incredibly useful for educators and students. The forum was a wealth of information on how climate change is impacting the watershed.  I personally enjoyed learning about the current research being done to evaluate the impact of climate change on the ecosystems within the watershed. I will definitely bring back the research techniques into my classroom to give the students hands-on learning experiences," said Clifton. 

NASA scientist Benjamin Hamlington, Ph.D., who leads NASA’s Sea Level Change Science Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, followed Gov. Murphy to provide the forum’s keynote presentation.

Providing a local perspective, NBC10 Philadelphia Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz discussed climate change impacts on rain, snow and flooding in the Delaware River Basin.

"We were happy to provide a forum educator scholarship to her," said DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini. "At DRBC, we are committed to using science to manage the water resources of the Delaware River Basin. Educators like Hillary are critical to passing that science along to next generation. Who knows? Her students may be the water resource or climate scientists and engineers of tomorrow."

The DRBC is an interstate-federal government agency created in 1961 by concurrent compact legislation, marking the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development and regulatory agency. The five Commission members are the governors of the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government.

To learn more about the Commission, please visit www.drbc.gov or follow DRBC on Twitter at @DRBC1961.

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Contacts: 

Peter Eschbach, Peter.Eschbach@drbc.gov

Kate Schmidt, Kate.Schmidt@drbc.gov

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