Leads FLI’s core business functions including strategic planning, budgeting, operations, and business development working with multiple stakeholder groups including campus, community, funders, non-profits, businesses, municipal officials, and government agencies
Develops research, education, and outreach projects in nuisance and harmful algal blooms, aquatic invasive species, trace metals, and watershed stewardship in the Finger Lake region resulting in over $7M in new funding from federal and state government agencies, foundations, and non-profit organizations
Sam Beck-Andersen
Associate Director of Invasive Species Programs, Finger Lakes PRISM Coordinator Phone: 315-781-4388 E-mail: beck-andersen@hws.edu
Oversees, develops, and administers invasive species programs across the 17 county Finger Lakes PRISM region as the Coordinator for the Finger Lakes Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM).
Works with local and state agencies such as NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Parks, and local partners to coordinate management, research, prevention, and monitoring of priority invasive species infestations.
Sam is from the Finger Lakes, and studied natural resources management at SUNY ESF, ultimately focusing his studies on human dimensions of natural resources management.
Susan Flanders Cushman has worked at the Finger Lakes Institute as a Research Scientist since 2010. She studies various streams and their watersheds in the Finger Lakes, including those found around Owasco, Seneca, Cayuga, and Keuka Lakes. An expert in fish and stream ecology, she measures stream health by a suite of metrics and indices from water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate communities, and stream fish assemblages. Specifically, she has been monitoring stream communities in one of the major Keuka Lake tributaries, Cold Brook, since fish habitat restoration for Rainbow trout was completed in 2006. Her other projects include assisting in the Seneca Watershed Characterization report by surveying the major tributaries around Seneca Lake, contributing to knowledge of trout and other sensitive fish populations within the region, and studying Castle Creek (Geneva) intensely with her research students to better understand changes in stream health along a rural-urban, land-use gradient. In addition to conducting research, Cushman helped establish the FLI Stream Monitoring Program and plays an active role in training teachers involved with the program.
During the academic year, Cushman is the Director of Introductory Biology Laboratories in the Biology Department at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. She has worked at the Colleges since 2007, after completing her PhD at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Fisheries Science in 2006. She received her Masters of Science in Environmental Science at The Johns Hopkins University (2001) and is an alumna of William Smith College (1998).
Nadia Harvieux
Associate Director for Educational Programs Phone: (315) 781-4386 E-Mail: harvieux@hws.edu
Leads environmental and watershed-focused education programs for a wide range of diverse audiences.
Supports K-12 education across the region through programs including Science on Seneca, the Finger Lakes Regional Stream Monitoring Network, Finger Lakes Youth Climate Summit, Geneva 2030, Finger Lakes PRISM and professional development for educators.
Coordinates community education and citizen science with regional partners and lake associations.
Beth Kinne
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Past FLI Environmental Studies Chair Phone: (315) 781-3913 E-mail: kinne@hws.edu
An Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Beth Kinne currently holds a three-year endowed position: Environmental Studies chair at the Finger Lakes Institute. In this position she is making efforts to increase collaboration between the Finger Lakes Institute and HWS students and faculty more broadly. She is also the head of the Year of Water project.
Prior to joining the faculty and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Beth Kinne was a water rights attorney and municipal attorney in the state of Colorado. She also has experience writing about water governance and energy governance, particularly at the state and local levels.
Professor Kinne is responsible for starting and overseeing the Year of Water project. Beginning as a way to celebrate the FLI’s fifteen-year anniversary, the year-long endeavor is meant to be an indicator of the Institute’s expansion to increasingly interdisciplinary work. The project intends to combine the various people doing water-related work at HWS under a single umbrella, foster community engagement with people who aren’t already involved and educate them on threats to the watershed, and encourage interdisciplinary cooperation among people who are willing to work together on issues related to water.
Works on behalf of the Seneca Watershed Intermunicipal Organization to protect and remediate ecological water quality concerns in Seneca Lake and its surrounding watershed.
With support of the IO, Ian develops and delivers education, scientific, engineering, and economic projects to promote water quality in the Seneca Lake watershed.
Works on behalf of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization to help monitor, protect and restore water quality throughout the watershed.
With support from CWIO, Isaac provides assistance to all 57 municipalities within the watershed to help them further water quality improvement through educational, scientific, engineering and economic projects.
Isaac has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science with a minor in watershed management from Mansfield University. Previously he worked in PA as an Agricultural Resource Specialist for the Bradford County Conservation District.
Affiliated Faculty
The Finger Lakes Institute collaborates closely with a number of HWS Academic Departments, specifically Environmental Studies, Biology, Economic, Geoscience, and Architectural Studies.
For the Finger Lakes Partnership for Invasive Species Management (PRISM) team, please visit the PRISM staff webpage.