28
COM Outlook . Winter 2015
Guard, which is an experience he
credited for “teaching me confidence
and—most importantly—discipline.”
Armed with a newfound sense
of self-belief and self-awareness,
Dr. Fleisher decided to continue his
education when he was released
from active Coast Guard duty. After
being accepted into the experimental
branch of the City University of New
York’s Richmond College in Staten
Island, he was suddenly transformed
from struggling student to high
achiever. “My experience at Rich-
mond College changed my life,” said
Dr. Fleisher, who married young and
had four children, which required
him to do all his pre- and postgradu-
ate education on a part-time basis
while maintaining a full-time job.
“The college was set up to take un-
derachieving students with promise,
and I ended up graduating with
honors, earning a bachelor’s degree
in Environmental Health.”
Botched Graduate Project
Proves Fortuitous
With his passion for academia
now in full flight, Dr. Fleisher began
pursuing his Master of Science
degree in Environmental Science at
Richmond College, which is where
he met a faculty member who would
go on to have a profound impact on
his life and career. “While attaining
my master’s degree, I became a lab
assistant to a very special teacher
who truly changed my life,” he
explained. “He became my adviser
and mentor. As part of his teaching
method, he almost never answered
any questions I asked while I was
working on my master’s thesis. What
he did was make me learn to teach
myself, and for that I am forever
grateful. It is truly amazing how one
great teacher can change a person’s
outlook and life.”
Interestingly, because of the re-
search he conducted to form the ba-
sis of his master’s thesis, Dr. Fleisher
would unwittingly stumble into a
research project that would result
in him becoming an international
expert several years later. “Initially,
I chose to analyze a stream in Staten
Island that started as a clean-water
course and meandered down to the
ocean, which was about five miles
downstream,” said Dr. Fleisher
of his thesis project, which would
result in some comical ramifica-
tions. “Along the way downstream,
people were illegally dumping raw
sewage into the stream, so as it pro-
gressed toward the ocean, it became
more and more polluted.
“The project I had chosen to do
looked at changes in microorganisms
as the stream got progressively more
polluted,” he added. “I spent one
summer collecting samples and look-
ing at these changes. I did not, how-
ever, have a big enough sample size,
so I had to wait a year before I contin-
ued to collect water samples. What I
did not take into account is that Staten
Island at that time was in the middle
of a construction boom, and when I
returned the next summer, my stream
was nowhere to be found.”
After relaying this information
to his faculty mentor, who laughed
openly and uncontrollably upon
hearing the news, Dr. Fleisher chose
a new topic that involved investigat-
ing the precision of water-quality
indicators. “I found there was a real
lack of precision in terms of setting
Pictured at his daughter Jennifer’s wedding are (from left) sons Mathew and Adam,
wife Robin, Dr. Fleisher, daughter Jennifer, and son Scott.
