Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing

Recent News

• Chronogram Covers Bard Community Science Lab’s New Hudson Valley Community Air Network
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  Chronogram Covers Bard Community Science Lab’s New Hudson Valley Community Air Network

  

  Desirée Lyle installing an air quality monitor. Photo by Julia Beeman
  

  Hudson Valley Community Air Network, led by Bard College’s Community Sciences Lab at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, was featured by Chronogram magazine in an article about the ongoing efforts to track and trace pollution in the air of the Hudson Valley region. The article notes that for decades, the area’s environmental consciousness has been organized around water, whereas air was not tracked closely until initiatives led by Bard’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. The establishment of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative, and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition in 2021, paved the way for this year’s efforts by Bard and Ulster County to install 17 new street-level sensors across the county. These newest sensors are strategically placed in public areas where people gather and learn, like libraries, town halls, and community centers, to collect data that can be accessed freely by the surrounding communities. “We didn’t want community data to be controlled by private people or entities,” says Desiree Lyle, program director of Bard College’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. 
  
  The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities puts Bard’s dedication to the environment, science, and social change into practice to support the fair management of our shared natural resources. The center conducts quantitative research in the natural and social sciences, crafts communication, participates in policy making, and bridges academic inquiry with community needs. The data and insights collected through CESH related projects are applied directly back to communities, with the end goal of addressing and solving environmental problems in real time.
   
  

  Read More in Chronogram
  

  
  Post Date: 07-28-2026
  
• Bard Alumna Jacinta Creel Vallejo ’24 to Receive Higgs Scholarship and Attend University of Edinburgh for MSc
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  Bard Alumna Jacinta Creel Vallejo ’24 to Receive Higgs Scholarship and Attend University of Edinburgh for MSc

  

  Jacinta Creel Vallejo ’24.
  

  Jacinta Creel Vallejo ’24, a Bard alumna who majored in physics and philosophy, has been accepted to the University of Edinburgh for an MSc in Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences. She has also received the Higgs Scholarship, awarded by the university’s School of Physics and Astronomy on the basis of academic merit. Creel Vallejo, who developed an interest in the field while working on her Bard SPROJ project with physicist Clara Sousa Silva, chose Edinburgh for its interdisciplinary approach. Creel Vallejo is particularly interested in how scientists can infer life on distant worlds from inherently incomplete data. “My ambition is to investigate the limits of biosignature detection by combining observational modelling with laboratory simulation of abiotic false positives, sharpening the criteria by which a detection claim can be trusted,” she said. 
  
  The Bard Physics Program is dedicated to helping students at all levels gain a better understanding of the universe and how it works.
  
  Post Date: 07-15-2026
  
• Bard College Partners with Ulster County on Ground‑Level Air Quality Monitoring Network
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  Bard College Partners with Ulster County on Ground‑Level Air Quality Monitoring Network

  

  Desirée Lyle installs an air quality monitor for the Poughkeepsie Regional Air Quality Station at Adriance Memorial Library. Photo by Julia Beeman
  

  Bard College’s Hudson Valley Community Air Network (HVCAN) is partnering with Ulster County to install 17 new ground‑level air quality sensors at libraries, town halls, and community centers across the county. The sensors will provide the community with real‑time information about local air pollution and offer free alerts through JustAir, a platform that notifies users when air quality becomes unhealthy and again when conditions improve. The sensors measure fine particulate matter, or tiny particles from sources like soot, smoke, and vehicle exhaust that are small enough to be inhaled and cause serious health impacts. Because the sensors are installed roughly six feet off the ground, they capture the air residents actually breathe, which can differ significantly from rooftop or elevated monitors. “HVCAN demonstrates that science does not belong only in laboratories or universities; it belongs in communities, where people can use knowledge to support healthier futures together,” said Desirée Lyle, program director at Bard’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. “The data we create encourages curiosity, dialogue, and shared responsibility for environmental health, while offering a model for how science and community engagement can grow together.”
  
  The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities puts Bard’s dedication to the environment, science, and social change into practice to support the fair management of our shared natural resources. The center conducts quantitative research in the natural and social sciences, crafts communication, participates in policy making, and bridges academic inquiry with community needs. The data and insights collected through CESH related projects are applied directly back to communities, with the end goal of addressing and solving environmental problems in real time.
   
  

  Learn More
  

  
  Post Date: 06-18-2026
  
• Computer Scientist Valerie Barr Quoted in the Atlantic
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  Computer Scientist Valerie Barr Quoted in the Atlantic

  

  Valerie Barr, Margaret Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science.
  

  Valerie Barr, Margaret Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Bard College, was quoted in an Atlantic article about the importance of studying computer science in the age of AI. The article examines how AI may be changing the landscape of coding, but does not negate the need for computer scientists—in fact, the proliferation of AI code may require more professionals who have a deep understanding of computer systems. “I’m back to how I taught in the 1980s, when we didn’t have laptops and there was one computer lab for the whole campus,” said Barr. She told the Atlantic that she now assigns coursework largely on paper in her introductory class, and believes that students who learn coding fundamentals the old fashioned way will come out ahead. “You cannot make effective use of AI tools if you don’t know something about what you’re asking the tools to do.”
  
  The Computer Science Program at Bard focuses on the fundamental ideas of computer science and introduces students to multiple programming languages and paradigms, covering theoretical, applied, and systems-oriented topics. Most courses include hands-on projects so that students can learn by building, and by participating in research projects in laboratories devoted to cognition, computational biology, robotics, and symbolic computation.
  

  Read More in the Atlantic
  

  
  Post Date: 06-09-2026
  
• Hal Haggard's Research on Black Holes Featured on PBS Space Time
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  Hal Haggard's Research on Black Holes Featured on PBS Space Time

  

  Hal Haggard, associate professor of physics.
  

  Research by Associate Professor of Physics Hal Haggard was featured on Matt O’Dowd’s PBS Space Time, an informational show that introduces viewers to concepts in astrophysics. The episode focused on an idea Haggard helped pioneer about black holes: that instead of becoming singularities at the end of their lifetime, as was previously thought, they may instead lead into cores of energy, also known as “white holes.” Haggard’s research on these structures, also known as Planck stars, and black-to-white hole tunneling was discussed in the context of physicists’ anxieties around black holes and how the perception of them has changed in previous decades. The Planck star’s existence is “one of our final hopes,” O’Dowd says. “Let’s hope they’re real, for physics’ sake.”
  
  Haggard teaches in Bard’s Physics Program, which is dedicated to helping students at all levels gain a better understanding of the universe and how it works.
  

  Watch the Episode
  

  
  Post Date: 06-01-2026
  
• Six Bard College Graduates Win 2026 Fulbright Awards
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  Six Bard College Graduates Win 2026 Fulbright Awards

  

  Clockwise, L–R: Danika Dortch ’26, Shosha Wheeler ’26, Peter Fields ’26, and Annaliese Simons ’26.
  

  Four Bard College graduates have won 2026–27 Fulbright Awards for individually designed research projects, English teaching assistantships, and the pursuit of a master’s degree. The Fulbright program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. During their grants, Fulbrighters meet, work, live with, and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. Bard College is a Fulbright top producing institution.
  
  Danika Dortch ’26, a Literature major at the College and a French Horn Performance major at the Bard Conservatory, will conduct an independent project on the composer Leoš Janácek and his influence on the writer Milan Kundera.  She will reside in Brno, Czech Republic, and conduct archival research on Janácek, Kundera, and Moravian folk music in order to examine their influence on Czech national identity.
  
  Peter Fields ’26, a Classical Studies major who has served as a Latin and Greek tutor at Bard, has been awarded an English Teaching Assistantship to Romania. While at Bard, he participated in an archaeological dig of an ancient Roman villa in Transylvania, an experience which sparked his interest in Romania and its culture, both ancient and modern.
  
  Annaliese Simons ’26, a Written Arts major, was awarded a Fulbright study-research grant to pursue a master's degree in public policy, with a focus on disability studies, at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany. Annaliese has been captain of the Bard Debate Team, as well as copresident of the Bard Disabled Students Association. They aspire to a career in disability advocacy.
  
  Shosha Wheeler ’26, a Mathematical Sciences major, has been awarded the Fulbright Austria Community-Combined Award.  For her project, Shosha plans to lead math-based community project for immigrant youth in Vienna, while also taking courses in mathematics at Universität Wien. At Bard, Shosha has served as a math tutor and volunteer for MAGPIES, the math outreach program for girls.
  
  Bridget White ’25, an Anthropology and German Studies double major, has been awarded an English Teaching Assistantship to Germany. While at Bard, Bridget was codirector of EMS and sang in the Georgian Choir.  
  
  Lindsey Jordan ’24, a written arts and German Studies major, has received an English Teaching Assistantship to Germany.  At Bard, Jordan worked on the Conjunctions literary magazine and studied abroad in Berlin. Jordan is currently teaching English in Spain.  

  
  
  Post Date: 05-28-2026