Roebling and the D & H Canal
I am working on a long term research project that is focusing on the early work of Roebling before the Brooklyn Bridge. As part of this effort I am currently researching the D & H Canal in upstate New York. The Canal was built to help get coal from the hills of Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and to market. As part of the canal Roebling built three aqueducts to transport barges full of coal across the Delaware River and along the route of the canal – his first built work in this country.
At present the town of Mamakating and village of Wurtsboro in Sullivan County New York is looking to redevelop the old D & H canal into a recreational corridor. The town has applied to NY State for grant money to begin this effort. The canal was built by the Wurts brothers for whom the town is named. As part of this effort we will be looking for historic drawings and photographs that we can link to a Graphic Information System (GIS) database which in turn can be accessed through a website or from scanning a Quick Response (QR) code with a Smartphone.
I am hoping to assemble a team of Architecture, Engineering and ADGA students to work on developing the various components. The work will provide an opportunity to work with the town of Wurtsboro on a real project, to become proficient in the use of GIS and to work collaboratively with a team of student scholars.
There are presently two options for involvement with the project including the colleges Emerging Scholars Program and a new research program available to AAS students. Emerging Scholars which is available to both AAS and Btech students requires a commitment of 50 hours of work for the semester and each student receives a $500 stipend.
The second program which is new this year is an intensive research effort that will entail approximately 300 hours for work for conducting research throughout the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. The program is available only to AAS students and participating students will receive $5000 for one year. Funding is available for up to 15 students across the college.
If you are interested in working on this research effort please contact me directly via email at Pking@CityTech.CUNY.edu or at Prof.Paul.King@Gmail.com. Deadlines for emerging scholars is this Thursday September 18th and next week September 22 for the new research program
Prof. Paul C. King
