{"id":29048,"date":"2026-07-30T09:31:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=29048"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:16:53","slug":"clarks-hero-researchers-help-baking-cities-beat-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/30\/clarks-hero-researchers-help-baking-cities-beat-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Clark\u2019s HERO researchers help baking cities beat the heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Millions of Americans have suffered under heatwaves this summer, but in \u201curban heat islands\u201d \u2014 which lack trees and green spaces \u2014 the temperatures are even worse. In Massachusetts\u2019 historic industrial cities, for example, central neighborhoods can be up to 20 degrees hotter than in leafier suburban areas just a few miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just absolutely cooks\u201d in inner-city, working-class neighborhoods, Geography Professor John Rogan of Clark\u2019s School of Climate, Environment, and Society<\/a> recently told<\/a> The Boston Globe, <\/em>which reported on the stark realities of life in urban heat islands. \u201cAffluence and trees just go hand in hand in the Northeast,\u201d Rogan<\/a> added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But over the past decade, undergraduate student researchers working each summer with Rogan and Geography Professor Deborah Martin<\/a> have sought to counteract these forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the school\u2019s Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) program<\/a>, student research fellows have assessed the growth and vigor of trees planted through the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation\u2019s Greening the Gateway Cities Program, which aims to cool off urban centers full of older housing stock and lacking extensive tree canopies. Students also have monitored temperatures in urban heat islands and conducted interviews with residents to determine the program\u2019s impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOur data helps tell us what works and what doesn\u2019t in urban forestry programs.\u201d<\/p>\u2014 tatum choi \u201928<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

HERO students have made a difference, according to Mat Cahill, community action and urban forester at the DCR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year through this collaboration, we\u2019ve brought all these solutions and ideas that you\u2019ve presented back to the program, and it really helps,\u201d Cahill told this year\u2019s six HERO students, who presented their findings to a roomful of DCR staff and community members at Clark on July 16. \u201cThese trees are surviving and thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s cohort included geography<\/a> majors Tatum Choi \u201928, Daisy Merkowitz \u201927, Abby Seguin \u201927, and Ada Silverman \u201926 and data science<\/a> and interactive media design<\/a> double-major Gabriela de Le\u00f3n \u201927 (above with a DCR employee in Chicopee) and data science major Hadassah Ofosu-Amoani \u201927. During the academic year, they will present their work at ClarkFEST and continue their individual research projects as part of the fellowship program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing that the DCR is actually taking our data and putting it to use is totally satisfying,\u201d de Le\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choi embraced the responsibility of collecting and assessing the data. \u201cWe could say, \u2018That is ours<\/em>.\u2019 And when it\u2019s your data, it\u2019s much easier to commit to getting the results and understanding the data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ofosu-Amoani, \u201cit was nice when we were analyzing the data, and then we\u2019d think, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a tree that I measured\u2019 or \u2018That\u2019s something I remember.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"From
From left, Ph.D. student Robert Moore, Ada Silverman \u201926, Gabriela de Le\u00f3n \u201927, Hadassah Ofosu-Amoani \u201927, Abby Seguin \u201927, Daisy Merkowitz \u201927, Tatum Choi \u201928, and Ph.D. student Aidan Caron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Working with geography Ph.D. students Aidan Caron and Robert Moore over eight weeks this summer, the six undergraduates collected and analyzed data in Chicopee, Holyoke, and Lawrence \u2014 the first time a HERO cohort has collected data in that city, partnering with the DCR and a local nonprofit, Groundwork Lawrence. Past HERO cohorts have also conducted research in Chelsea<\/a>, Fall River<\/a>, Holyoke<\/a>, Leominster<\/a>, Pittsfield<\/a>, Revere<\/a>, and Worcester<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among this year\u2019s findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n