Eastern Economic Association Holds 49th Annual Conference

Students from the O’Malley School of Business attended the 49th annual Eastern Economic Association conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Times Square where they presented information on their current research.

Christopher Machol, a senior at Manhattan College, was one of the presenters at the conference. Machol centered his research on the Bronx River and its water quality.

“I’ve been working on this project for about a year or so,” Machol explained, “The inspiration for it came from my internship at the Bronx River Alliance, which is a nonprof- it organization in the South Bronx.”

The Bronx River Alliance has a goal to raise the water quality of the Bronx River, which is what inspired Machol to research this specific topic. He analyzed data from the solar panel systems on buildings and coordinated information with LaGuardia Airport.

“The purpose of that or- ganization is to revitalize the Bronx River and then also enhance the water quality so that the communities in the area can access it,” Machol said. “I used that [solar panel] data and then I combined it with weather data from LaGuardia Airport, and then I determined how weather impacted energy production.”

The issue Machol is researching has an effect on the community, as helping with water and air pollution in the area could increase income and standard of living.

“It’s [Bronx River Alliance] located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, and so it also has a dis-

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