Skip to main content

CU COVID ALERT: Red, High-Risk While Rebuilding the Bubble – Spring 2021 Info

Primary Navigation

  • About
    • Maps & Directions
    • President's Page
    • The Clarkson Brand
    • Strategic Plans
    • History & Facts
    • Accreditation
    • Accolades
    • Board of Trustees
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • School of Arts & Sciences
    • Lewis School of Health Sciences
    • Reh School of Business
    • Coulter School of Engineering
    • Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries
    • Institute for a Sustainable Environment
    • Institute for STEM Education
    • Academic Affairs
    • Academic Calendar
  • Admissions
    • First-Year Admissions, Undergraduate
    • Transfer Admissions, Undergraduate
    • International Admissions, Undergraduate
    • Early College Program: The Clarkson School
    • Graduate School Admissions
    • Financial Aid
    • Apply Now
  • Life
    • Office of Student Life
    • Student Clubs & Activities
    • Living on Campus
    • Campus Dining
    • Clarkson Ignite
    • Career & International Experiences
    • Explore the Region
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Student Health & Counseling
    • ROTC
  • Research
  • Athletics
  • News

Information for

  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Request Info
  • Give
  • Alumni
  • Parents
  • Intranet

CU • News & Events

Clarkson’s Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries Begins Construction on Beatrice G. Donofrio Environmental Education Complex

Release Date
Wednesday November 4, 2020
Artist’s rendering of the renovations and addition to Dennings Point
Artist’s rendering of the renovations and addition to Dennings Point

Construction has begun on the new Beatrice G. Donofrio Environmental Education Complex at Clarkson’s Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries on Dennings Point in Beacon, NY.

The brand new world-class education and research facility is made possible through the generous support of the Donofrio family in memory of their mother, Beatrice G. Donofrio. The new complex will empower academic innovation, research, enhance partnerships, and include all stages of the K-12 experience to educate and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. The goal of the project is to ensure that all learners, regardless of resources or financial capacity, have access to and the ability to embrace the natural environment as a learning classroom. 

The new structure, expected to take two years to complete, will house innovative citizen science laboratories where the public will experience Clarkson’s healthy water initiatives firsthand. It will also serve as headquarters for scientific research on the Hudson River while providing a collaborative space for environmental conferences and professional education.

The Donofrio Center will also be home to an extensive oral history collection and a series of traveling and permanent museum exhibits. First and foremost is a series of interviews of the Donofrio family with a highlight on Beatrice Donofrio and her children: Francis, Nicholas, Elvira, and Gloria. Work is already commencing on obtaining 40 interviews of energy workers in the Hudson River Valley with a special focus on their engineering, management, and technological skills. Next, the oral history collection will examine how people of color utilized Dennings Point State Park and the broader Hudson River during the late 20th century. The Institute also inherited several boxes of archaeological artifacts from Vassar College that date back to the early 19th century. All of these amazing artifacts, interviews, and displays will be on view for the public in the Donofrio Center’s new public outreach wing.

Several portions of the Beacon campus capital project have already been completed, including the Denning’s Point Road Bridge rehabilitation and Shoreland Trail improvements. Next, a solar array, parking garage and public pavilion will be constructed, along with the renovation of an abandoned two-story, 40,000-square-foot former paper clip factory. This building will transform into the new Hudson Valley Clarkson University campus, home to our Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.

This capital project is twofold. Upon full buildout, Clarkson students will have access to a world-class learning environment and the highest caliber of faculty, staff and facilities. In addition, a state-of-the-art laboratory will serve as a central hub for advanced research to support the New York state-designed Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions. The research will center around emerging contaminants, invasive species, best practices for resilience planning, and more.

Phase I will create:

  • Administrative office and workspace for staff, faculty, and researchers.

  • A technically advanced classroom

  • A new welcome center that will feature historical and ecological exhibits.

Phase II will complete the campus with:

  • Two additional classrooms.

  • A flexible field station/research space.

  • A multipurpose space for conferences, events, and expanded programming.

  • Technology and equipment for each space.

The Institute is also opening a new “Habitat Walk” exhibit at the Water Ecology Center this fall, including live animals native to Hudson River ecosystems. The exhibit will be open to weekend public visitors, and to weekday school groups, and will be used to pilot curriculum and programs for the River Education grant project. 

Clarkson’s Beacon Institute conducts environmental research and a wide range of public outreach and K-12 enrichment programs. CU-BIRE staff and interns have been conducting field surveys of invasive and native plant species throughout 2020, in order to create a draft management plan for Denning’s Point Park. Public citizen science events this fall will include “Beach Cleanup” marine debris cataloging and removal at the park’s Hudson River beaches, and “Walk & Talk” trainings to identify native and invasive tree and plant species. In July, CU-BIRE adopted a live native animal collection to augment the development of updated river and estuary education exhibits at the Water Ecology Center. This month, CU-BIRE will host several outdoor and virtual programs with Beacon and Newburgh public middle school students to align with NYSDEC’s annual “Day in the LIfe of the Hudson River”. 

Dennings Point is a 64-acre peninsula jutting into the Hudson River and part of the Hudson Highlands State Park of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). Since 2003, OPRHP and the Beacon Institute have maintained a unique and valuable partnership on Dennings Point.

As a private, national research university, Clarkson is a leader in technological education and sustainable economic development through teaching, scholarship, research and innovation. We ignite personal connections across academic fields and industries to create the entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge and intellectual curiosity needed to innovate world-relevant solutions and cultivate the leaders of tomorrow. With its main campus located in Potsdam, N.Y., and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region, Beacon, N.Y., and New York City, Clarkson educates 4,300 students across 95 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, the arts, education, sciences and health professions. Our alumni earn salaries that are among the top 2% in the nation and realize accelerated career growth. One in five already leads as a CEO, senior executive or owner of a company. To learn more about Clarkson University, go to www.clarkson.edu.


Photograph for media use is available at:
/sites/default/files/media/image/2020-02/beacon-donofrio.jpg

Photograph Size:
Width: 1430px
Height: 745px

News directors and editors: For more information, contact Melissa Lindell, Director of Media Relations, at 315-268-6716 or mlindell@clarkson.edu.

Schools at Clarkson

  • Graduate School
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • David D. Reh School of Business
  • Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering
  • Earl R. and Barbara D. Lewis School of Health Sciences
  • Institute for a Sustainable Environment
  • Early College Program: The Clarkson School
  • Institute for STEM Education
  • Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries

Highlights of Excellence

  • Career Center
  • Honors Program
  • ROTC
  • SPEED
  • Student Success Center
  • Writing Center

Research & Innovation

  • Clarkson Center for Complex Systems Science (C3S2)
  • The Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP)
  • Center for Air Resources Engineering & Science (CARES)
  • Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR)
  • The Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science & Technology (CREST)
  • The Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES)
  • The Shipley Center for Innovation
  • Clarkson Ignite
  • University Libraries

Clarkson University

8 Clarkson Ave., Potsdam, New York 13699 315-268-6400
80 Nott Terrace, Schenectady, NY 12308 518-631-9831
199 Main St., Beacon, New York 12508 845-838-1600
Take a Virtual Tour

Organizational Chart
© 2021 by Clarkson University | Contact the Webmaster

  • Human Resources • Giving
  • CARES Act Reports & Consumer Information Disclosures (HEOA)
  • Act on Legal & Moral Concerns
  • Daily Screening - Employees & Students