Our History

a glass greenhouse with green plants inside floats on a barge at night with the sunset and nyc in the background In 2004, Dr. Ted Caplow founded NY Sun Works and introduced the Science Barge: a floating, sustainable urban farm powered by renewable energy sources and irrigated by rainwater. This landmark program inspired the launch of our Hydroponic Classrooms initiative in 2008, which was a collaborative effort co-created by Manuela Zamora and Sidsel Robards. Together, they passionately pioneered the teaching of sustainability science and climate education through the tool of hydroponic farming.

NY Sun Works has come a long way since opening the first rooftop greenhouse on a NYC public school in 2010 at PS 333. We soon recognized that many schools who could greatly benefit from our programming lacked the necessary space and resources for such greenhouse structures. Over the past decade we’ve evolved our approach to transform existing classrooms into indoor Hydroponic Classrooms, enabling us to partner with more than 350 schools — over 15% of all NYC public schools.

We continue to innovate, adapt, and grow to meet the changing climate challenges facing us today. During the pandemic, we responded by introducing home STEM Hydroponic Kits and developed a remote K-12 curriculum, allowing students to extend their learning beyond the confines of our Hydroponic Classrooms. These kits have evolved into a versatile, affordable solution, providing sustainability science education in a compact, portable format. Additionally, in 2022, we launched our Urban Agriculture Workforce Development Program. This initiative, piloted with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, equips students with technical skills, environmental science knowledge, and workforce readiness training while creating pathways for high school graduates to participate in NYC’s green economy.