Dr. Shakila Merchant is the Deputy Director of the CUNY CREST Institute and serves as Director of the CUNY High School Initiative in Remote Sensing of the Earth Systems Engineering and Sciences (HIRES). She is also the Associate Director of the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (CESSRST). With a deep passion for mentoring students, Dr. Merchant has led the HIRES program since 2014, guiding over 200 high school students through hands-on research experiences in Earth systems science.
Before joining CUNY in 2002, Dr. Merchant worked for over a decade as an Environmental Scientist at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Her academic and research background includes environmental impact assessment and ecosystem health evaluation, along with extensive experience in project planning, management, and assessment.
At CUNY, Dr. Merchant has been instrumental in developing educational and workforce initiatives aimed at supporting underrepresented students in STEM. In collaboration with the NOAA JPSS Program, she created the SPARKS (Students Professional and Academic Readiness with Knowledge in Satellites) program, which offers students experiential learning and professional training in satellite science by fostering collaboration between federal agencies, academia, and private industry.
Dr. Merchant also co-developed key student support frameworks at NOAA CESSRST, including the Individualized Student Development Plan (ISDP) and the Professional Advancement and Career Engagement (PACE) model, both of which have been published as best practices in STEM education and workforce development. She has presented at numerous national conferences and has been invited to serve on panels related to STEM education, women in science, diversity and inclusion, and workforce readiness.
She led K–12 informal learning initiatives at City College of New York starting in 2010 and served on the American Meteorological Society's Education Symposium Committee from 2020–2021. Over the course of her career, Dr. Merchant has advised and mentored more than 700 post-secondary students, playing a vital role in shaping the next generation of environmental scientists and engineers.