Environmental Science and Research Associates

(ESRA)

A non-profit corporation established in Lancaster, PA in 1967 to promote teaching and research in environmental sciences.

Founding members: Dr. Paul Hess, Dr. Alex Henderson, Dr. Ben Oostdam, Prof. Willis Ratzlaff, Prof. John Roth, and Sam Wenger, Esq.

First project: to launch The Marine Science Consortium, successfully accomplished in December, 1968, when the Consortium became incorporated. ESRA continued acting as operating agent for the Consortium until 1970.

• facilitating College field trips and field courses
• organizing an Oceanography Seminar Series
• promoting the establishment of the Millersville University Student Chapter
  of the Marine Technology Society
• awarding a student scholarship for bio-essays on oil and oil spill absorbents
• donating a Geosatellite Positioning System to the Earth Sciences Department
  of Millersville University
• extending student loans for participation in overseas field course
• providing support to the summer course in Oceanography/Marine Biology
  for High School Teachers offered by Prof. Paul Billeter for Loyola University, MD
  at the Hofstra University Marine Laboratory (HUML) in St. Ann, Jamaica
• partially funding the Alex Henderson Commemorative Scholarship Fund
• promoting the Caribbean Coastal Studies project
• contributing the prizes in the CCS Questionnaire/Contests of 1995 about Coastal Area Management
  and 1996 about Natural Hazards Emergency Management
• donating fax-modems to selected non-profit organizations in the Caribbean
  to help promote connectivity
  
• demonstrating the use of the World Wide Web in environmental education
• preparing agendas on the WWW for the Second Caribbean Natural Hazards Conference,
  Jamaica, Oct.8-11, 1996 and the COSALC Workshop, Puerto Rico, Oct.21-25, 1996
  
• contributing to the EHEM Website and the
  first "Natural Disasters" course offered at Millersville (Spring 1997)
  
• originating and maintaining Sewage Sludge Issues websites (1997-2008)
• participating in environmental proposal to USAID/Jamaica (1998)
• coastal area management investigations and websites, Namibia (1997/9)
• alternative construction methods, PA (1998/2002)
• distance education workshop in Addis Abeba, by Paul Billeter (Jan.1999)
• "forced" 1995 transfer of websites from Millersville Marauder to TRIPOD, ANGELFIRE, etc. followed in 2008 by (-do) transfer to boostdam.net
  
• setting up Caribbean Natural Hazards website for the University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica
• initiating cooperative arrangements between Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
  Charles County Community College, MD and ESRA, PA (Jan/Feb., 2000)
• started and maintained websites about Mascaro/A & M Composting Sludge Operations
  and Manor Landfill, Lancaster Cy, PA (2001/2)
• teaching "Coastal Hazards" and supporting UWI-Unit of Disaster Study's 2001 GEOHAZARDS summercourse
• preparing a website on sludge victims based on records of Helane Shields, N.H. (ult.2001)
• publishing Alex Henderson's "Atlas of the Fishes of Chincoteague Bay" on the Web (2002)
• arranging "New Strategies in Teaching Biology" Workshop with WWW-component at National University of Rwanda,
  Butare, January 2002, by Paul Billeter, Eugene Kaplan, Richard Millis and Ben Oostdam. Also prepared photographic record
• cooperative efforts inititated with "Gonefishin" Aquaculture Station in Kigembe, Rwanda
• visiting marine/environmental stations, programs and organizations and preparing websites in Greece (2003), South Africa (2004),
  Ireland (2004), the Balkans(2005), Dominican Republic (2006), and South Africa(2008)
  
• helping to organize and execute annual fieldcourses in Marine Biology in Belize