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Bard College faculty, staff, and students gathered at Blithewood Manor for this year's Annual Scholarship Reception on Monday, November 11. This annual event honors students who have excelled in their studies and contributed to academic and campus life. The evening’s awardees, who were nominated by faculty from across the four divisions of the College, represent excellence in the arts; social studies; languages and literature; and science, mathematics, and computing. 

“We are pleased to recognize this year’s Bard Scholars, who represent the very best of what we are and what we do,” said Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Studies David Shein. “These students, who were selected by their faculty and deans in recognition of their contributions in the classroom and to the campus community, have demonstrated not only excellence in their work but deep care and commitment to that work and to the life of the College.  We are proud of them and look forward to seeing what they will do next.”

Many of the named scholarships are made possible by generous contributions from Bard donors. Thank you to all supporters for believing in the value of a college education, and for investing in the future of Bard students.

Further reading:
Learn More about Postgraduate Scholarships and Fellowships through Bard's Dean of Studies Office
Learn More about Scholarships, Prizes, and Awards at Bard

Bard Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude and Bard Assistant Professor of Biology Robert Todd have received a $34,000 grant from the Glenn W. Bailey Foundation in support of the PLUMM Project, Project-based Learning for Undergraduates in Microbial Mapping, which will provide undergraduate students from both SUNY Dutchess and Bard College with an immersive, collaborative research opportunity.

In this newly grant-funded part of the PLUMM Project, Jude and Todd will conduct an intensive three-week research experience. During three weeks in January, students will have the opportunity for training in STEM laboratory techniques on multiple active research projects from the Todd and Jude Labs, taking place in the state-of-the-art laboratories in the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation at Bard College. The overarching goals of PLUMM are to provide a solid scaffolding of laboratory, experimental design, data collection, and analysis skills that would support the successful completion of a STEM degree and enhance the students’ applications for admission into graduate school or other careers in STEM-related fields. PLUMM also builds on the strong relationships Bard College has with SUNY Dutchess to include faculty and students from both institutions working side-by-side in the lab and coauthoring conference proceedings and journal articles. Students will showcase their research projects at an annual symposium and poster session that will be open to the public.

“This opportunity to conduct research with students in this mid-semester experience will allow us to get students fully engaged in all aspects of the research questions and launch them continuation of this work in subsequent semesters,” said Jude. “The collaboration between students at Bard and SUNY Dutchess will also provide rich opportunities to set up long-term interactions and research projects.”

Bard College’s Welcome Corps on Campus (WCC) program has accepted two students from OSUN’s Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, to attend Bard in the 2025-26 academic year. Grace George Kharthum and Ruot Wichar Duop, originally from Sudan, secured the highly coveted scholarships from WCC, a refugee sponsorship program supported by US governmental agencies and higher education institutions, after completing the Hubs’ Realizing Higher Education Access Program (RhEAP) program. At Bard, Duop plans to study computer science and English literature, with a focus on developing data, software, and machine learning to provide innovative solutions to challenges in healthcare, education, and governance. Kharthum will pursue a degree in sociology, focusing on gender, education, and global development. “My journey from a refugee camp in Kenya to Bard College in New York is a testament to the power of education and support from dedicated individuals and organizations,” said Kharthum.

Bard Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude’s research on pigmented microbes has been featured in The Scientist magazine. Jude is a microbiologist who studies microorganisms cultivated from water sources. When she found a sample of violacein in the Hudson River Valley, she started studying its purple pigment in her labs and eventually moved on to dyeing fabrics with it, on her own and then in her biology classes at Bard.

Jude’s bright purple microbial dyes caught the interest of Around the World in 80 Fabrics, an organization which supports the Ain Leuh Women's Cooperative in Morocco. The microbial dyes provide a safer and more sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes. This experience led Jude to collaborate with Hassan Ghazal, Abderrazak Rfaki, and Said Barrijal to locate and process native pigmented plants from Morocco, and they also created a guide to the new pigments for the Womens’ Cooperative. “It was just incredible,” Jude says, “they want to set up this long-term collaboration too, [and there’s an] understanding that keeping microbes native to an area, indigenous to an area, is really the way forward in our field.”

Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, appears in the PBS award-winning documentary series NOVA. The episode, “Solar System: Storm Worlds,” focuses on the dramatic forces creating spectacular weather on neighboring planets and moons. “In our solar system, wherever there’s an atmosphere, there’s weather, no matter how different an atmosphere from Earth’s,” said Sousa-Silva. The episode explores the strange and wonderful weather occurring across our solar system, from globe-spanning dust storms, to monsoons of liquid methane, to monstrous storms with lightning bolts ten times more energetic than anything on Earth.

 

Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, addressed the United Nations on September 20 as a panelist at “Summit of the Future,” which brings world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future. The panel discussion, “Activating Young Scientists for Trust in Science,” was hosted by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Secretary-General at the UN Headquarters and focused on exploring ways of advancing trust in science globally among young people. The discussion was moderated by Latif Nasser, cohost of RadioLab, and the panel consisted of Sousa-Silva, Tshilidzi Marwala, the UN under-secretary-general, Andrea Hinwood, chief scientist of the UN Environment Programme, and Mohammad Hosseini, research ethicist at Northwestern University, and member of Global Young Academy. 

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Evolutionary traps are problems, most often human-created changes to the environment, which animals encounter and are not prepared for through natural selection. For example, toxic plastics that look like food or artificial lights that mimic stars in the night sky but have no navigational value. Animals lack the behavioral tools to handle them and thus make maladaptive choices that make it difficult for them to survive. Discover magazine talks to Bard Associate Professor of Biology Bruce Robertson and cites his research on some of the most concerning evolutionary traps, such as sea turtle hatchlings heading inland instead of into the water due to being confused by beachfront lights or Australian death adders poisoning themselves by preying on non-native toad species. “Traps will cycle populations toward extinction extremely rapidly,” Robertson says. “They’re like demographic black holes.” 

Bard Associate Professor of Biology Gabriel G. Perron and Bard Associate Professor of Chemistry Swapan S. Jain have received $46,000 from the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture to study the impact of farming practices on the nutritional content and microbial diversity of fermented vegetables, which complements existing funds of $50,000 from Hudson Valley Farm Hub to study soil health. “Getting support from such an important organization not only enables us to continue our work on agroecology, but also gives us visibility at the national level,” said Gabriel G. Perron. Both Perron and Jain are also associated with the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities at Bard.

The Stone Barns Center funds will be used to study and document the impact of frost on the nutritional value of raw and fermented cabbage. Perron and Jain will also be investigating how frost impacts the microbial communities developing during fermentation, which affects the probiotic qualities of fermented cabbage (e.g. sauerkraut). This project will be conducted in collaboration with farmers at Stone Barns, chefs at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and Bard College researchers Perron and Jain. Former Bard student Pearson Lau ’19, who recently published his Senior Project on the effect of chlorination on sourdough starter cultures, will also be part of the research team. Professors Perron and Jain plan to involve current Bard undergraduates in their research project. This collaboration has also made it possible to bring students from Bard and Bard NYC to visit Stone Barns and Blue Hill at Stone Barns as part of their respective classes.

“We are very excited about this wonderful collaboration with farmers and chefs in our local community. This work will help us in addressing important questions related to nutrition and the overall health of our food ecosystem,” said Swapan S. Jain.

Felicia Keesing, David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard, has published a study in Science with coauthor Richard S. Ostfeld examining diseases that are spread to people by rodents, and how our destruction of the environment makes those diseases more likely.

“Rodents as a group are infamous as disease-transmitters,” says Keesing. “But not all rodents are created equal. We were able to discern clear patterns in which ones are dangerous, which ones are not, and why.” Ostfeld adds, “Not only are the disease-bearing species predictable, so too are the environmental changes that help them proliferate.”

Many people think of all rodents as vermin, but only a small percentage (about 12%) of rodent species carry pathogens that can make us sick. These disease-causing rodents, including the city rats and house mice that infest human-occupied spaces around the world, tend to thrive when we destroy the natural environment. When biodiversity declines, the species that prosper are typically hosts for pathogens that can also infect people. In their review in Science, Keesing and coauthor Ostfeld explore what we know about this pattern, and how it plays out for three rodent-borne diseases that are all surging in the 21st century—Lassa fever, Lyme disease, and the plague. The results of their synthesis point to the importance of protecting and restoring biodiversity as a critical strategy for protecting our own health.

In their review, Keesing and Ostfeld focus on key traits of rodents that share pathogens with us, including “synanthropy” (living with and benefiting from human environments), while also considering the potential impact of drivers of global change such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Lassa fever, for example, mostly affects people living in West Africa who become sick each year through exposure to a virus shed in the feces and urine of a widespread rodent, the multimammate mouse. Keesing and Ostfeld show that environmental correlations between the virus and the rodent host’s ability to thrive may lead to increasing numbers of people at risk for Lassa fever as suitable habitat expands under global climate change.

Lyme disease, which was first described in the northeastern United States, is also strongly linked to rodents. The disease is caused by a bacterium that is shared with people through the bite of infected ticks. The animal that infects the greatest proportion of ticks is the white-footed mouse, with an infectivity of more than 90%. These mice thrive in human-impacted habitats from which other mammal species have disappeared, another example of how human impacts on the environment often have negative effects on our health.

Plague has caused notorious pandemics in past centuries, but cases of this rodent-borne disease are also surging in the 21st century, particularly in East Africa, northern Asia, and Madagascar. Hundreds of species of rodents can be infected with the bacterium that causes plague, but past pandemics are strongly linked to the spread of black and brown rats, which are also implicated in modern plague hotspots. These rats thrive in human habitats where other animals cannot.

The authors focus their review on rodent-borne diseases but the patterns they describe are true of other diseases as well, including diseases affecting wildlife, livestock, and plants. Species that thrive when we destroy natural habitats tend to be species that are also likely to spread pathogens. This gives renewed urgency to efforts to protect and restore natural environments around the world. Keesing states: “This review affirms that we need to act now on the knowledge that damaging the environment increases disease transmission and threatens our health.”

Suzanne Kite, aka Kite, distinguished artist in residence, assistant professor of American and Indigenous Studies, and director of the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI at Bard, was interviewed by ArtNews about her work in ensuring that Indigenous artists are involved throughout the development of AI systems. “I think that what we call AI is soon going to be split into its many, very separate systems, instead of this blanket calling everything AI,” said Kite, an Oglála Lakȟóta artist who has been using machine learning in artwork since 2018. “There are so many different things happening. If there is not diversity of thought, even basic cultural thought—but real diversity of thought—then we will just end up at a dead end with things.” Kite discusses earlier models of machine learning which she used to create art, how her work at Bard focuses on developing ethical AI frameworks deeply rooted in indigenous methodologies, and her public art project Cosmologyscape, in collaboration with Alisha B Wormsley, which solicits dreams from the public that are translated into quilting patterns generated from 26 Black and Lakota symbols and which will debut as sculptures at Ashland Plaza in Brooklyn from September 22 to November 3.

Felicia Keesing, the David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard College, is the recipient of the 2024 C. Hart Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists. The award, given to eminent scholars in recognition of outstanding research in the study of mammals over a period of at least 10 years, honors Keesing for her scholarly contributions to the fields of disease ecology and community ecology, all while keeping the role of mammals in ecological processes front and center. As recipient, Keesing is invited to address the Society in a plenary session at the 2025 annual meeting, as well as to prepare a manuscript for publication in the Journal of Mammalogy.

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has announced that Bard math alumna Mona Merling ’09 has won the 2025 AWM Joan and Joseph Birman Research Prize in Topology and Geometry. Merling was recognized for her innovative and impactful research in algebraic K-theory, equivariant homotopy theory, and their applications to manifold theory.

“I would not be here today without the many amazing women I was lucky to have as role models at every step of the way: from my math teacher back in Romania, Mihaela Flamaropol, who ignited my passion for math competitions; to my undergraduate mentor at Bard College, Lauren Rose, who early on inspired me about both research and teaching; to some of the senior leaders in my field who initiated and fostered the Women in Topology Network, Maria Basterra, Kristine Bauer, Kathryn Hess, and Brenda Johnson, who I was very privileged to be able to collaborate with as part of these workshops and who have always served as a huge inspiration and a source of endless support to me and other younger women in homotopy theory,” said Merling, who is currently associate professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. She was previously a J.J. Sylvester Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, and received her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Chicago in 2014.

In a statement, AWM wrote: “Merling is an exceptional researcher whose work in algebraic topology has both depth and breadth. She is a recognized authority on equivariant homotopy theory and its applications to equivariant manifolds. Her recent work generalizes and reinterprets results in differential topology in the equivariant context. Her work is the first progress seen in decades on certain foundational questions about equivariant manifolds.”

The AWM Joan & Joseph Birman Research Prize in Topology and Geometry serves to highlight to the community outstanding contributions by women in the field and to advance the careers of the prize recipients. The prize is awarded every other year and was made possible by a generous contribution from Joan Birman, whose work has been in low dimensional topology, and her husband, Joseph, who was a theoretical physicist specializing in applications of group theory to solid state physics.

Antonios Kontos, associate professor and director of physics at Bard College, has been awarded a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Kontos’ proposal, titled “Stray Light Control for Cosmic Explorer,” has been awarded a total of $351,951 in funding over a period of three years, which will also cover student salaries, travel, and equipment.

“Try to imagine a telescope that can hear every collision between two stars in the universe. That is what we are creating with the Cosmic Explorer detector,” said Kontos. “This award will allow students at Bard the opportunity to contribute to this remarkable project over the next three years.”

Gravitational-wave astronomy, a subfield of astronomy focusing on the detection and study of gravitational waves emitted by astrophysical sources, has now opened a new window to the universe, which—along with conventional telescopes—significantly broadens our understanding of astrophysics and cosmology. The Cosmic Explorer project is a concept for a next-generation gravitational-wave observatory in the US, which will enable the detection of nearly every black-hole collision in the observable universe. The NSF award will allow a team of scientists and engineers to produce this initial conceptual design, and to develop technologies to facilitate the eventual realization of the Cosmic Explorer. The project will be undertaken in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology, which received a separate grant for the initiative.

The NSF is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and US territories. It was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the nation’s health, prosperity and welfare, and to secure the US national defense. Its investments account for about 25% of federal support to US colleges and universities for research driven by curiosity and discovery. NSF aims to keep the US at the leading edge of discovery in science and engineering, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation.

Bard College is pleased to announce that the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI, directed by Dr. Suzanne Kite, distinguished artist in residence and assistant professor of American and Indigenous Studies, has been designated as a Humanities Research Center on AI by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This prestigious recognition will confer a $500,000 grant in support of the Center, and position Wihanble S’a at the forefront of innovative research that integrates Indigenous Knowledge systems with cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Beginning in Fall 2024, the Wihanble S’a Center will embark on groundbreaking research aimed at developing ethical AI frameworks deeply rooted in Indigenous methodologies. The Center’s mission is to explore and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI through an Indigenous lens, ensuring that AI technologies reflect diverse perspectives and contribute positively to society.

“This award is a tremendous honor and a recognition of the importance of American Indian perspectives in the rapidly evolving fields of AI,” said Dr. Kite, who is an award-winning Oglála Lakȟóta artist and academic, and Bard MFA ’18 alum. “Our goal is to develop ethical methodologies for systems grounded in Indigenous knowledge, offering new guidelines and models through collaboration between Indigenous scholars and AI researchers, challenging the predominantly Western approach to AI. Wihanble S’a (WEE hah blay SAH) means dreamer in Lakota, and we are dreaming of an abundant future.”

The NEH designation will support the Center’s initiatives, including the establishment of a dedicated facility on Bard College’s Massena Campus. This facility will serve as a collaborative hub, bringing together scholars from across diverse academic disciplines—including computer science, cognitive and neuroscience, linguistics, ethics, and Indigenous Studies—to engage in interdisciplinary research and educational activities.

In addition to research, the Center will host public events, workshops, and an interdisciplinary Fellowship and Visiting Scholars program, all aimed at advancing the field of Indigenous-informed AI. The Center’s work will complement the recruitment and support of Indigenous students ongoing at Bard’s Center for Indigenous Studies, enhancing Bard College’s commitment to being a leader in Indigenous studies in the United States as well as complementing Dr. Kite’s work with the international Abundant Intelligences Indigenous AI research program. Wihanble S’a Center’s designation as an NEH Humanities Research Center on AI underscores Bard College’s dedication to fostering innovative, socially responsible research that bridges the humanities and technological advancements.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Emily McLaughlin has been named by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as an ACS Fellow for 2024. ACS Fellows are recognized and honored for their outstanding achievements in and contributions to the science and the profession and for their equally exemplary volunteer service to the ACS. This year, the ACS selected 37 fellows who will be recognized by an award ceremony and reception at the ACS Fall 2024 “Elevating Chemistry” meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Associate Professor of Physics Paul Cadden-Zimansky and three recent Bard graduates in physics and mathematics Li-Heng Henry Chang ’23, Ziyu Xu ’23, and Shea Roccaforte ’21, have coauthored the cover story in the July 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physics. Their peer-reviewed research article, “Geometric visualizations of single and entangled qubits,” presents a new way of visualizing the phenomenon of quantum entanglement between two interacting objects. Intended for a range of audiences—from students just starting to learn about concepts in quantum mechanics to active researchers who are using quantum bits ("qubits") to create new types of computers, sensors, and secure communication systems—the article focuses on visual tools and maps that can be used to complement the formal mathematics and algebra of quantum mechanics.

Valerie Barr, Margaret Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Bard College, together with Carla E. Brodley and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, examines in a new study how institutions of higher learning should reconsider the metrics by which they measure data to improve diversity and broadening participation in computing analysis and assessment. “Concerns about representation in computing within the US have driven numerous activities to broaden participation,” they write. However, as Barr points out, “the standard analysis of computer science degree data does not account for the changing demographics of the undergraduate population in terms of overall numbers and relative proportion of federally designated gender, race, and ethnicity groupings.” The study argues that the consideration of students’ intersectional identities, along with using multiple data-analysis methods, would aid in more accurate assessments of the effectiveness of curricular, pedagogic, and institutional interventions for expanding representation in computing.

On the occasion of the Rubik’s Cube’s 50th anniversary, Associate Professor of Mathematics Lauren Rose was interviewed on the Today Show and quoted in the New York Times about using the Rubik’s Cube as a teaching tool. Invented by Erno Rubik in 1974, the Rubik’s Cube has 43 quintillion permutations, and an estimated one in seven people in the world have played the puzzle. Rose, who can solve the cube in under a minute, uses the Rubik’s Cube to teach both math majors and non-STEM majors. “I can get students who hate math to learn how to solve the cube and then I can say, ‘You know, you just did math,’” says Rose. She believes the Rubik’s Cube’s enduring appeal is that it is “so fun and accessible.”

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College is pleased to announce the findings of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI) after four consecutive years of research and data collection.

KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Sciences Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have facilitated both indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring projects throughout the Hudson Valley. The first air quality study of its kind in Kingston, KAQI’s monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution as measured from the rooftop of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway in Kingston.

“As a compact urban city, with a large percentage of our community living in either disadvantaged communities designated areas and/or potential environmental justice areas, we are acutely aware of the localized impacts of air pollution on our community members and quality of life,”said Julie L. Noble, sustainability coordinator for the city of Kingston. “The partnership we have had with Bard has been tremendously positive for us, providing sound, local data that we have been able to share, in real time, with our residents, to help them stay safe, plan accordingly, and make better choices for their own health and for the health of our environment.”

Additionally, Bard’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, through the Community Sciences Lab, is excited to announce that the success of KAQI has led to an expansion of air quality initiatives in the Hudson Valley, including the recent establishment of a second regional air quality station in partnership with the Poughkeepsie Library, as well as plans to install a third station in Newburgh in partnership with Mount Saint Mary College. A collaborative ever-expanding network of hyper-local air quality monitors, called Purple Airs, between Bard College, SUNY-Albany, and the EPA will also yield further research results, and libraries across the Hudson Valley are encouraged to join the growing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. These neighborhood-scale monitors will allow the Community Sciences Lab to more accurately assess air pollution and its effects on people on a neighborhood level.

KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), made up of microscopic particles from burnt fuel that are released into the air from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or worsening health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations – indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”

After four years of comprehensive monitoring in Kingston, we continue to uncover valuable insights into our air quality and its connection to our daily activities and decisions as citizens. 2023 stands out from the past four years—after three years of decreasing daily average levels of pm2.5 from 2020-2022, we saw an increase in 2023 (figure 1). Annual mean pm2.5 was higher in 2023 than the three other years currently on record. Some of this increase is directly attributable to the wildfire smoke we experienced from Canada in June 2023, which may be a new reality for the Hudson Valley as fires continue to ravage Canadian forests.

One consistent observation over the past four years is the seasonal trend of higher particulate concentration in the winter and summer months, likely attributable to wood and fuel used for heating and recreation. Despite improvements in vehicular and industrial emissions, we are overall seeing consistently higher pollution levels. This trend underscores the ongoing need for more aggressive sustainable heating practices and transportation solutions to combat air pollution in Kingston.


Another critical factor and ongoing research subject is atmospheric inversions and their implications for ground-level air pollution in Kingston. These events occur when the temperature of the atmosphere increases with altitude and surface level air parcels are unable to rise up, trapping air pollution at ground level. Given Kingston's location in the Hudson Valley, where air circulation is restricted, awareness of these events is crucial for informed decision-making to mitigate air pollution. To assist with this, KAQI has developed a new inversion dashboard tool, providing real-time updates every 12 hours on potential atmospheric inversion days, which may be accessed at: https://cesh.shinyapps.io/New-York-Daily-Inversions/

This tool empowers individuals to assess how their actions, such as wood burning or car usage, may impact ground-level air pollution on any given day, allowing residents to proactively choose cleaner alternatives during inversion events and contribute to improved air quality in Kingston.

As we continue to research the complexities of air quality management, it's essential for Kingston residents to stay informed and engaged. By adopting sustainable practices, supporting clean energy initiatives, and advocating for policies that prioritize air quality, we can work together to create a healthier environment for all.

More details about KAQI’s findings can be found at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/

"I have personally suffered, and know other members who suffer, the negative health effects of woodsmoke pollution in their own neighborhoods in Kingston,” said Lorraine Farina, founding member of the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition. “Respiratory and cardiac effects are not limited to times when there are Canadian wildfires in our area. The concept of "home" equates to safety and security for most people, but when people cannot protect themselves from woodsmoke invading their homes, there is a feeling of defenselessness. While we have no control over woodsmoke pollution (and the attendant PM 2.5) coming from afar, we have the power to enact and enforce policies that address locally-produced woodsmoke pollution to protect our health."

“This unprecedented partnership with the city of Kingston is a model for Hudson Valley cities building resiliency in the face of climate change,” said Eli Dueker, associate professor of environmental studies and biology, and director of the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities. “By monitoring our own air quality, we, as a community, can together make decisions about the air we breathe. As last year’s Canadian wildfire smoke reminded us, we cannot take clean air for granted. The air we breathe relates directly to our health, and it is important that we as a community ensure that everyone has access to clean, healthy air. Each of us can contribute to this effort, by making decisions about what we contribute to the air, including respecting city laws related to outdoor woodburning in city limits, decreasing indoor woodburning (particularly during inversion events), biking and walking more, and participating in city-led efforts to move to sustainable (and less polluting) energy sources as we further climate-proof our city.”

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College, in collaboration with KAQI, has been working on a handful of air quality related projects centralized around community needs and concerns. These include:

• Developing a publicly-accessible atmospheric inversion monitoring system for the Kingston area.
• Neighborhood-level air quality monitoring, through the fast-developing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. Using outdoor real-time air quality monitoring devices stationed at public libraries, air quality data is free and accessible online. If any libraries are interested in joining, please reach out to [email protected].
• In partnership with SUNY-Albany and the EPA, conducting indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring in homes with woodsmoke, mold and structurally-related air quality challenges.

For more information or ways to get involved, please visit https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/
 

A newly published scientific study looks at the ways in which environmental problems, ravaged ecosystems, and biodiversity losses due to climate change and other human activities can compound infectious disease risks, including increasing the likelihood of future pandemics. The Washington Post writes about the study’s findings and quotes Felicia Keesing, David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard. “This adds to a very long list of reasons we should be rapidly moving away from fossil fuels and trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change,” said Keesing, who was not involved in the study but whose research focuses on biodiversity and disease risks.

Hannah Park-Kaufmann ’24, who is graduating with dual degrees in piano performance and mathematics, has won a Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for graduate-level study at Stanford University. Park-Kaufmann will pursue a master's degree in computational and mathematical engineering at Stanford University School of Engineering. After completing her master’s degree at Stanford through Knight-Hennessy, she will matriculate into the PhD program in applied mathematics at Harvard University, a program to which she has already been accepted. As a pianist, Hannah became fascinated by human fine-motor movement. She aspires to help more people reach mastery in physiologically complex professions by using experiment, theory, and computation to explore what simpler patterns might underlie our movements, and turning this understanding into new educational paradigms. 

At Bard, Hannah was president of the Association for Women in Mathematics Chapter, tutored mathematics in New York state prisons through the Bard Prison Initiative, and gave a TEDx talk on a research study she designed and led at MIT on the physiological correlates of healthy versus injury-prone piano playing. She participated in the Polymath Jr., Emory and CMU mathematics REUs, and has coauthored multiple papers published in peer reviewed journals. Her teams’ projects won first place at the international hackathon HackMIT in the tracks Sustainability (2022) and Education (2023, with Elliot Harris ’24). She is the recipient of the Bard Distinguished Scientist Scholar Award, the Community Action Award, the Mind, Brain and Behavior Award, the Seniors to Seniors Award, and the Conservatory Scholarship.

Established in 2016, the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship program seeks to prepare students to take leadership roles in finding creative solutions to complex global issues. Scholars receive full funding to pursue any graduate degree at Stanford and have additional opportunities for leadership training, mentorship, and experiential learning across multiple disciplines.

Craig Anderson, Wallace Benjamin Flint and L. May Hawver Professor of Chemistry and director of undergraduate research in the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard, has been awarded a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The proposal has been awarded $375,699 in funding, and focuses on examining the effects that ligand architecture and metal oxidation state have on the properties of luminescent platinum compounds. This is Anderson's fourth NSF RUI since 2011, with the four totaling over $1,000,000 for research with Bard College undergraduate students. The three previous awards have supported the publication of sixteen research articles with more than seventy undergraduate coauthorships.

“I am extremely excited as this award provides opportunities for our undergraduate students to participate in research projects,” said Anderson. “I think undergraduate research is one of the highest impact practices that contributes to the success of our students. I would like to thank my students, my chemistry colleagues, Bard OIS, and Bard College leadership for their assistance with this proposal.”

RUI proposals support Primarily Undergraduate Institutions faculty in research that engages them in their professional fields, builds capacity for research at their home institution, and supports the integration of research and undergraduate education.

The NSF is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and US territories. It was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the nation’s health, prosperity and welfare, and to secure the US national defense. Its investments account for about 25% of federal support to US colleges and universities for research driven by curiosity and discovery. NSF aims to keep the US at the leading edge of discovery in science and engineering, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation.

On Friday, April 26, 2024, the Bard College Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing will present “Why We Die,” a talk featuring Venki Ramakrishnan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and author of the book Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality. The event will be held at the Olin Auditorium on Bard’s campus, taking place from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, and will include a Q&A followed by a reception. For more information, please contact [email protected].

The last few decades have seen dramatic advances in human understanding of aging and death, and along with that knowledge comes an impulse to negate some of the causes of aging to improve health in old age. Some would wish to postpone aging and death, perhaps indefinitely. Ramakrishnan will explore these issues, including our current understanding of the causes of aging and efforts to tackle it, while also touching on the potential social and ethical implications of such work.

Venki Ramakrishnan grew up in India and left at the age of 19 for the US. After a long career there, he moved in 1999 to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He works on the structure and function of the ribosome, an enormous molecular complex that reads the genetic information on mRNA (itself copied from a stretch of DNA) to synthesize the proteins they specify. His work also showed how many antibiotics work by blocking bacterial ribosomes, which could help to design better antibiotics. For this work, he shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. From 2015-2020, he was president of the Royal Society, a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Ramakrishnan is the author of a popular memoir, Gene Machine, a frank description of the race for the structure of the ribosome and the science and personalities involved, and Why We Die, about the biology of aging and our current efforts to combat it.

This talk is made possible thanks to the support of the Office of the Dean of the College and the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing.

Bard alumna Michelle Reynoso ’22 (BHSEC Manhattan ’18) has been awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of her graduate work in materials research at Columbia University. The program aims to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the US, and the five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $37,000. Julia Sheffler ’22 has also been awarded an honorable mention by the NSF for her work in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Paul Cadden-Zimansky, associate professor of physics at Bard College, was interviewed on the Quantum Spin podcast by host Veronica Combs about his work as a physicist, as well as his role as a member of a committee convened by the Physical Society to coordinate the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, a global initiative that will celebrate 100 years of quantum mechanics in 2025. The year-long initiative will celebrate the profound impacts of quantum science on technology, culture, and our understanding of the natural world. “Quantum mechanics over this past hundred years has become the central theory for our understanding of the physical world,” Cadden-Zimansky told Combs. “It is our best physical theory, it is our most well tested physical theory, it applies to things that aren’t just small, you can see effects of quantum mechanics on galactic scales. And so, I think most physicists have an understanding of that—they didn’t appreciate that when they first constructed quantum mechanics.” He continues, “I think over the course of a hundred years, the story has kind of been, ‘No actually, this is really this grand framework for understanding everything around us.’”

How does one combat disparities in access to computer science classes for historically marginalized populations? One answer, proposed in a paper coauthored by Bard alum Megumi Kivuva ’22, could be embroidery. “We’ve come a long way as a country in offering some computer science courses in schools,” Kivuva said to the University of Washington. “But we’re learning that access doesn’t necessarily mean equity. It doesn’t mean underrepresented minority groups are always getting the opportunity to learn.” Using Turtlestitch, an open-source coding language, Kivuva and their coparticipants worked with 12 students from demographically diverse backgrounds, using a unique pedagogical approach “where the students had a say each week in what they learned and how they’d be assessed,” the University of Washington reports. “We wanted to dispel the myth that a coder is someone sitting in a corner, not being very social, typing on their computer,” Kivuva said. The subsequent paper on their findings, “Cultural-Centric Computational Embroidery,” won Best Paper at the inaugural technical symposium of Special Interest the Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).

The Mathematics and Statistics Department at Hope College invited Bard Associate Professor of Mathematics Lauren Rose to give an interactive discussion to faculty and students about the card game Quads, which she invented with Jeffrey Pereira ’13, who helped design Quads as part of his Senior Project. During her talk “Quads: A SET-like Game with a Twist,” Rose explained the rules of the game—players try to create as many quad groupings as they can, given several conditions—and participants had a chance to try their hand at it. “SET is a popular card game that you can teach a five-year-old (because you don’t need to be able to read) but there’s a ton of math in it,” said Rose. “SET contains three cards … so we asked, ‘What if we did four cards?’” Although the rules are straightforward, the game and its variations apply mathematical concepts including combinatorics, probability, geometry, and algebra. Rose and other mathematicians continue to study the underlying layers of math and logic that drive the game play. The paper, “How Many Cards Should You Lay Out in a Game of EvenQuads,” coauthored by Tim Goldberg ’02, Raphael Walker ’21, Julia Crager ’23, Felicia Flores ’23, Darrion Thornburgh ’24, and Daniel Rose Levine ’24, was recently published the journal La Matematica. The cards in the official Quads game, published as EvenQuads by the Association for Women in Math, feature images and biographies of female mathematicians on one side, which Rose hopes will encourage women to consider entering the traditionally male-dominated field of mathematics.

Bard College is pleased to announce that Bard students Reed Campbell ’25, a junior biology major, and Emma Derrick ’25, a junior physics major, have been announced as recipients of the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. The Goldwater scholarship supports college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

Campbell, who is currently studying abroad at the University College Roosevelt in the Netherlands, has conducted research with his advisor, Dr. Cathy Collins, as well as at the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environmental Ocean Sciences during an REU internship. He hopes to earn a PhD in Marine Ecology and conduct research in marine conservation at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. 

Derrick has conducted research with her advisor, Dr. Antonios Kontos, on Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to analyze the effects of annealing on the development of defects in mirror coatings.  After Bard, Emma aims to earn a PhD in Experimental Gravitational-Wave Physics, after which she hopes to secure a faculty position, conduct research, and mentor and collaborate with students. 

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, established by Congress in 1986 in honor of Senator Barry Goldwater, aims to ensure that the U.S. is producing highly-qualified professionals in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Over its 30-year history, Goldwater Scholarships have been awarded to thousands of undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to win other prestigious awards such as the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Fellowship, Rhodes Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship that support the graduate school work of Goldwater scholars. Learn more at goldwaterscholarship.gov/

Bard College senior Nine Reed-Mera ’24 has been awarded a prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which provides for a year of travel and exploration outside the United States. Continuing its tradition of expanding the vision and developing the potential of remarkable young leaders, the Watson Foundation selected Nine Reed-Mera as one of 35 students in the 56th Class of Watson Fellows to receive this award for 2024-25. The Watson Fellowship offers college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel—in international settings new to them—to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community. Each Watson Fellow receives a grant of $40,000 for 12 months of travel and independent study. Over the past several years, 26 Bard seniors have received Watson Fellowships. 

Nine Reed-Mera ’24 will explore extremophiles, which are organisms that survive the nearly un-survivable—volcanic magma, the depths of polar ice, and the vastness of outer space. She will engage with indigenous communities, scientists, and researchers to explore how extremophiles can illuminate our understanding of life’s tenacity and serve as a blueprint for resilience in our changing world. A biology and written arts double major, Reed-Mera writes: “Nearly four billion years ago, in the heat of the newly formed planet of boiling seawater and a toxic atmosphere devoid of oxygen, our first forms grew wildly. These extremophiles were able to exist without light near the molten core of the earth, breathe iron, and turn lethal gasses into molecules that would shape geological formations. Microbiology is, in a way, a form of scientific time-travel. Through it, we can see the beginnings of human evolution. Biologically, we are connected to every other living thing on planet Earth. Extremophiles, our first ancestors, creators of the oxygen in our atmosphere, give us perspective on our parameters and potential. This Watson project will empower me to illuminate the hidden connections between the micro and macroscopic world. My journey is a celebration of resilience, storytelling, and a call to safeguard the delicate balance between nature and culture.” Nine will spend her Watson year in the United Kingdom, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia.

A Watson Year provides fellows with an opportunity to test their aspirations and abilities through a personal project cultivated on an international scale. Watson Fellows have gone on to become leaders in their fields including CEOs of major corporations, college presidents, Emmy, Grammy and Oscar Award winners, Pulitzer Prize awardees, artists, diplomats, doctors, entrepreneurs, faculty, journalists, lawyers, politicians, researchers and inspiring influencers around the world. Following the year, they join a community of peers who provide a lifetime of support and inspiration. More than 3000 Watson Fellows have been named since the inaugural class in 1969. For more information about the Watson Fellowship, visit: https://watson.foundation.

Bard College has received a $69,300 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program. Bard’s grant is part of $1.8 million in total awards recently announced by Governor Hochul for 26 projects to help communities along the Hudson River Estuary improve water quality, enhance environmental education, and advance stewardship of natural resources. Funding will support Bard’s project to develop a “River Harmful Algal Blooms Watershed Characterization and Communication Toolkit,” which includes a Watershed Characterization report and communication materials focused on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Walkill River, an emerging water quality issue that can impact public health.

The Bard College Community Sciences Lab will partner with the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, Hudson River Watershed Alliance, and Riverkeeper to develop a public-facing HABs Watershed Characterization report for the Wallkill River, a Wallkill River HABs Communications Toolkit to help coordinate effective public communications about future HABs, and a broader Water Issue Communications Framework for watershed groups or municipalities across the region to guide communications planning for HABs or other emergent and emergency conditions that affect public health.

“This funding is an important investment in community-directed stewardship of Hudson River waterways, and I applaud the DEC for recognizing this,” says Bard Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental and Urban Studies M. Elias Dueker, who is also codirector of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, and head of the Community Sciences Lab. “With the increased pace of climate change, current policies regarding nutrient loading, stormwater management, and wastewater treatment simply are not keeping up with the increasing likelihood of algal blooms in our waterways as temperatures rise and precipitation regimes shift. Community scientists with a true sense of connection to these resources are a vital bridge between on-the-ground, real-time realities and the capacity for regulatory agencies to keep communities local to vulnerable waterways like the Wallkill safe. Community science is key to true climate adaptation and resilience, and I am thrilled to be part of this collaboration.”

Executive Director of Hudson River Watershed Alliance Emily Vail said: “The Hudson River Watershed Alliance is excited to be collaborating with scientists, local and regional organizations, and community members on this challenging and important issue. Harmful algal blooms can put people and pets at risk, and are an emerging threat in lakes and rivers. We’re looking forward to better understanding the latest science and communication strategies to keep people informed.”

Science Director of Riverkeeper Shannon Roback said: “Harmful algal blooms can pose health problems for both humans and animals who are exposed. As climate change progresses, we expect this risk to increase as blooms become more common. Effective public communication will be essential in reducing the harms. We are very excited that the NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary Program has funded our proposal to develop strategies to improve public outreach, communication and education around HABs, which we expect to have significant impacts to public health.”

“New York State is investing in projects that will improve resiliency and protect our natural resources both in the Hudson River Valley and across the state,” Governor Hochul said. “These 26 local grants will provide dozens of communities support to improve recreation, expand river access and education, and preserve and protect this iconic river for future generations of New Yorkers.”

Now in its 21st year, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Hudson River Estuary Grants Program implements priorities outlined in the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2021-2025. To date, DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program awarded 643 grants totaling more than $28 million. Funding for DEC’s Estuary Grants program is provided by New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a critical resource for environmental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects. Governor Hochul’s proposed 2024-25 Executive Budget maintains EPF funding at $400 million, the highest level of funding in the program’s history. 

Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking (IWT) will host its annual April Conference and welcomes educators of all disciplines on Friday, April 26 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. This year’s IWT conference will focus on “Climate Change in the Classroom: Embracing New Paradigms.” The conference will be hybrid, and participants can join online or in person at Bard’s Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, campus. Participants can learn more about the conference and register here.

The rate and severity of extreme climate events can bring on a feeling of numbness and resignation rather than catalyzing responsive resilience in the classroom. How can we refocus the conversation from crisis to education and adaptation? The 2024 IWT April Conference will conduct a deep dive into layered and often contradictory pedagogies about the natural world. This day of shared writing and reflection invites participants to join together in small, interactive workshop groups in order to explore a range of written, audio, visual, and hybrid texts—on topics from manifest destiny to global climate strikes—that are creating a new ecology of education.

The day will feature a plenary conversation by two Bard colleagues on the topic of climate change in the classroom from the perspectives of the humanities and STEM, respectively. Visiting Writer in Residence Jenny Offill is the author of three novels, Last Things, Dept. of Speculation, and most recently, Weather, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Eli Dueker is associate professor of biology and environmental and urban studies at Bard, codirector of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, and head of the Community Sciences Lab. 

Tuition fees are from $450 to $575, with Early Bird (before March 26) and Group discounts. Scholarships are available by application here. The IWT conference is Continuing Teacher and Leader Education 5.5 credit hours. Register here.

Bard College is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2023–24 Fulbright students and scholars. Each year, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces the top producing institutions for the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes the lists annually.
 
Seven graduates from Bard received Fulbright awards for academic year 2023–24. Getzamany “Many” Correa ’21, a Global and International Studies major, and Elias Ephron ’23, a joint major in Political Studies and Spanish Studies, will live in Spain as Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs). Biology major Macy Jenks ’23 will be an ETA in Taiwan. Eleanor Tappen ’23, a Spanish Studies major, will be an ETA in Mexico. Juliana Maitenaz ’22, who graduated with a BA in Global and International Studies and a BM in Classical Percussion Performance, was selected for an independent study–research Fulbright scholarship to Brazil. Bard Conservatory alumna Avery Morris ’18, who graduated with a BA in Mathematics and a BM in Violin Performance, won a Fulbright Study Research Award to Poland.  Evan Tims ’19, who was a joint major in Written Arts and Human Rights with a focus on anthropology at Bard, received a Fulbright-Nehru independent study–research scholarship to India. Additionally, Adela Foo ’18 won a Fulbright Study Research Award to Turkey through Yale University, where she is a PhD candidate in art history.

“As an institution, Bard College is proud and honored to be included in the list of Top Producing Fulbright Institutions for 2023-2024,” said Molly J. Freitas, Ph.D., associate dean of studies and Fulbright advisor at Bard. “We believe that Fulbright's mission to promote and facilitate cross-cultural exchange and understanding through teaching and research is in perfect alignment with Bard's own institutional identity and goals. We wish to extend our congratulations to our newest Fulbright awardees and reiterate our gratitude to the faculty, staff, and community members who have supported these students during the Fulbright application process and throughout their time as Bard students.”

“Fulbright’s Top Producing Institutions represent the diversity of America’s higher education community. Dedicated administrators support students and scholars at these institutions to fulfill their potential and rise to address tomorrow’s global challenges. We congratulate them, and all the Fulbrighters who are making an impact the world over,” said Lee Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program. 

Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors, and the world and have included 41 heads of state or government, 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders and changemakers who build mutual understanding between the people of the United State and the people of other countries.  
 

Bard research scholar Sayed Jafar Ahmadi and his wife and fellow psychologist Zeinab Musavi have provided counseling for victims of trauma, bombings, the COVID-19 pandemic, and earthquakes in Afghanistan for two decades, and educated future psychologists along the way. Their work recently earned the American Psychological Association’s 2024 International Humanitarian Award, which recognizes “extraordinary humanitarian service and activism by a psychologist or a team of psychologists, including professional and/or volunteer work conducted primarily in the field with underserved populations.”

The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities (CESH) at Bard College has received a $44,892 sub-award through the Research Foundation for SUNY Albany as part of a federal grant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The grant will support a project with the overarching goal of improving air quality and public health across underserved neighborhoods in New York State by establishing a community driven network platform to enhance understanding of sustainable outdoor and indoor air quality. The Principal Investigator for this grant is Dr. Aynul Bari at SUNY Albany.

Through the Community Sciences Lab within CESH, Bard will provide technical and analytical support for the project over two years for study sites in the Hudson Valley, including sites in Kingston, Red Hook, Annandale-on-Hudson, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie. Specifically, CESH will provide and install weather stations, with air quality and meteorology sensors, at Newburgh and Poughkeepsie sites; and support Dr. Bari’s group in monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality in 40 homes in the Hudson Valley over the next three years—testing for a broad range of air pollutants, including black carbon, volatile organic compounds, ultrafine particles, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and ozone. Bard student involvement will include supporting monitoring efforts (indoor and out) and using the air quality data to assess air quality challenges in the Hudson Valley in classes.

“We are incredibly thankful to Dr. Aynul Bari and the Research Foundation for SUNY Albany for including us in this EPA grant,” said M. Elias Dueker, associate professor of Environmental and Urban Studies at Bard. “We look forward to using these funds to expand our indoor and outdoor air quality work with groups like the Kingston Air Quality Initiative and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition. The right to breathe clean air inside and outside our homes is not something we can take for granted as we wrestle with important climate-based challenges, including increased wildfire smoke plumes from other parts of the country, flood-induced molding of our aging housing stock, and increased wood burning in our valley communities.”

The Community Sciences Lab (CSL) was created to support the work conducted by CESH. Built on the success of the Bard Water Lab and its partnership with the Saw Kill Watershed Community (SKWC), CSL expands CESH’s reach by allowing us to refocus our work on projects that address the interconnectedness of land, air, water, and communities. CSL projects include: Saw Kill Monitoring Program, Roe Jan Monitoring Program, Kingston Air Quality Initiative, Bard Campus Station, Hudsonia Eel Project, and Amphibian Migration.

Six Bard College students have been awarded highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships by the US Department of State. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000, or up to $8,000 if also a recipient of the Gilman Critical Need Language Award, to apply toward their study abroad or internship program costs. This cohort of Gilman scholars will study or intern in more than 90 countries and represents more than 500 US colleges and universities.

Biology major Yadriel Lagunes ’25, from Clifton, New Jersey, has been awarded a $3,000 Gilman scholarship to study at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador via tuition exchange for spring 2024. At Bard, he serves as a Residential Life Peer Counselor and a supervisor on the Bard EMT Squad. “This scholarship has made studying abroad a possibility for me,” says Lagunes. “I want to center global public health in my future career as a healthcare worker and researcher. Through travel, I hope foster cultural sensitivity and communication skills that are desperately needed in my field. I am so grateful for Gilman scholarship for this opportunity.”

French and Anthropology double major Lyra Cauley ’25, from Blue Hill, Maine, has been awarded a $4,000 Gilman scholarship to study at the Center for University Programs Abroad (CUPA) in Paris, France via tuition exchange for spring 2024. “I would like to thank the Gilman scholarship for giving me financial security and freedom abroad. This scholarship allows me to fully embrace the experience of learning and living abroad with financial worry or strain,” says Cauley.

Biology major Angel Ramirez ’25, from Bronx, New York, has been awarded a $3,000 Gilman scholarship to study at University College Roosevelt in Middelburg, The Netherlands via tuition exchange for spring 2024. “I’m very grateful to be a recipient of the Gilman scholarship,” says Ramirez. “It’s a huge opportunity to be able to pursue my goals within biology for my future in STEM. I’m excited to learn a new language abroad in the Netherlands and experience new cultures without a financial barrier. I proudly come from a family of Mexican immigrants; therefore, I feel empowered that people like me are able to partake in a change as great as this one.”

Spanish and Written Arts joint major Lisbet Jackson ’25, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $4,000 Gilman scholarship to study at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador via tuition exchange for spring 2024. “I am incredibly grateful to the Gilman Scholarship for supporting my semester in Ecuador and ensuring I can commit to developing my Spanish, studying literature, and immersing myself in Ecuadorian culture. Thanks to the Gilman Scholarship I will also be more prepared to pursue a career in multilingual and global education,” says Jackson.

Sociology major Jennifer Woo ’25, from Brooklyn, New York, has been awarded a $3,500 Gilman scholarship to study at Bard College Berlin in Germany for spring 2024. “To be awarded this scholarship means to fully explore and pursue my dream of studying abroad with the freedom of having the financial support I hoped for,” says Woo. “My dad is an artist who has always pushed me to travel and search for culture, the arts, and new experiences, so being able to fulfill this dream while having the resources of education means the world to me.”

German Studies major David Taylor-Demeter ’25, from Budapest, Hungary, has been awarded a $5,000 Gilman scholarship to study at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany via tuition exchange for spring 2024. “To combine my studies of German language and literature with a day-to-day experience of Berlin is an invaluable opportunity,” says Taylor-Demeter.

Since the program’s inception in 2001, more than 41,000 Gilman Scholars from all US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other US territories have studied or interned in more than 160 countries around the globe. The Department of State awarded more than 3,600 Gilman scholarships during the 2022-2023 academic year.
 
The late Congressman Gilman, for whom the scholarship is named, served in the House of Representatives for 30 years and chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee. When honored with the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2002, he said, “Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views but adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”
 
The Gilman Program is sponsored by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). To learn more, visit: gilmanscholarship.org.

The Society for Science has named Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, the winner of the 2023 Jon C. Graff, PhD Prize for Excellence in Science Communication. Additionally, Sousa-Silva was named one of 10 Scientists to Watch by Science News, which is published by the Society for Science. The Graff Prize committee praised Sousa-Silva’s “dynamic communication style and her ability to explain clearly an often abstract field of science to a range of audiences with enthusiasm.” “Congratulations to the SN 10 honorees and to Dr. Sousa-Silva for winning the Jon C. Graff, Ph.D. Prize for Excellence in Science Communication,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science and executive publisher of Science News. “These pioneering scientists are leading the way in groundbreaking discoveries.”

“In an ideal world good science and good science communication should not be considered two distinct aspects of research,” Sousa-Silva said. “Scientists should always prioritize communicating their research thoughtfully and clearly, not just to their peers and students, but to the general public. I am therefore thrilled to be awarded this prize, and extremely grateful for the recognition.”

Craig Anderson, Wallace Benjamin Flint and L. May Hawver Professor of Chemistry and Director of Undergraduate Research at Bard, and Bard College have received a 2023 Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions Award. The prestigious award provides an $18,500 grant to bring a leading researcher to a primarily undergraduate institution to give two lectures in the chemical sciences, one of which will be open and accessible to the general public. Chemical engineer and kineticist Donna Blackmond, who is best known for pioneering the methodology of “Reaction Progress Kinetic Analysis (RPKA)” for fundamental mechanistic studies of complex organic reactions, as well as for streamlining pharmaceutical process research, will give a series of lectures at Bard College during the Fall 2024 semester. Professor Blackmond currently serves as the John C. Martin Endowed Chair of Chemistry and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Scripps Research Institute. During her visit to Bard, Blackmond will substantively interact with undergraduate students and faculty. The Jean Dreyfus Lectureship Award will also support summer research for two undergraduates who will be working with members of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Program during Bard College’s eight-week summer research program, Bard Summer Research Institute.
 
“We are extremely excited to receive this award that will allow our students access to such an elite research chemist like Professor Blackmond, as well as support novel chemistry research for two exceptional Bard students,” professor Anderson said. “I would like to thank my colleagues in the Chemistry Program and Karen Unger and Johnny Brennan in Bard’s Office of Institutional Support for their help and support in submitting this successful proposal. I especially would like to acknowledge Emily McLaughlin, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean of the College, for her help in securing such a preeminent speaker through her extensive connections in the chemistry community.”
 
Donna G. Blackmond is recognized for her work in probing organic reaction mechanisms, particularly in asymmetric catalysis, and for investigations aimed at understanding the origin of biological homochirality. She was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and received her PhD in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1984. She began her career as an assistant professor in chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She has also held academic positions in Germany (Max-Planck-Institut) and the UK, where she held Chairs in Physical Chemistry (University of Hull) and Catalysis (Imperial College London).  She has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry (Merck & Co., Inc). She is currently the John C. Martin Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Chemistry Department Chair at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. Blackmond has been recognized internationally for her research including awards from the American Chemical Society, the British Royal Society, the German Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. She is an elected member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Engineering, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Learn more about Blackmond’s research interests here.
 
Bard College is among eight institutions to receive a 2023 Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions grant. Learn more here.

“What is a White Hole? Do they really exist?” writes Robert Fox for the Standard. Reviewing White Holes by Carlo Rovelli, a “miniature masterpiece” whose scientific theme is work begun in collaboration with Hal Haggard, associate professor of physics at Bard College, Fox says the book “isn’t about discreet spats between physicists, but the very nature of thinking.” Haggard summarizes the theory of White Holes as such: “A White Hole is a Black Hole with time reversed.” The Guardian referred to the book as a “brief but dazzling journey to the edges of understanding,” while NPR said that “taking the journey with Rovelli is more than worth the price of the book.” The English translation of White Holes was published on October 31, 2023, by Penguin Random House.

Read More in the Standard
Read More in the Guardian
Read More on NPR

Further Reading:

• Physics Professor Hal Haggard on White Holes: What We Know About Black Holes’ Neglected Twins

Bard College is pleased to announce that it has received $69,886 from the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research, Inc., a New York nonprofit corporation based in New York City. The funding will support a two-year project to update and improve water quality datasets that will be used to strengthen community advocacy and better address public health, policy, and management questions.

The principal investigators on the project, Elias Dueker, associate professor of environmental and urban studies, and Gabriel Perron, associate professor of biology, will work with students to analyze microbiological micropollution samples and then synthesize those results with historical water quality data obtained from Bard and community partnership programs that monitored the Saw Kill tributary from the mid ’70s to early ’80s, and from 2015 to present. Bard faculty members Krista Caballero, Jordan Ayala, Beate Liepert, and Josh Bardfield, who helped write the grant, will also participate in the project during its second year.

“This partnership with Hudson River Foundation allows the Bard Center for Environmental Science and Humanities to strengthen its commitment to using science as a tool for environmental and social change,” said Deuker. “We hope this unique effort to utilize and elevate community-fueled science will serve as a model for contemporary and meaningful approaches to creating climate resilient communities in the Hudson Valley.”

The research will be presented to community groups, and community member participation will be solicited. The results will be published in white papers and academic journal articles with the hopes that the information will be used to inform tributary stewardship and management decisions. Bard will partner with the Saw Kill Watershed Community and the Hudson River Water Association to disseminate the results.

The Hudson River Foundation (HRF) seeks to make science integral to decision-making about the Hudson River and its watershed and to support science-based stewardship of the river for all who live, work, and recreate there. As the primary resource and advocate for science and environmental research on the Hudson River and its watershed, the HRF connects the scientific community, policy makers, and the general public with a wealth of information and analysis. For the general public, HRF offers research results, reports, and opportunities for education regarding efforts to restore and sustain the Hudson’s waters. For the scientific community and policy makers, HRF is the gateway to scientific information, research opportunities, and dialogue about technical issues facing the river. For more information, visit hudsonriver.org.
 

Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, has been named one of the ten 2023 Scientists to Watch by Science News for her work in quantum astrochemistry. The SN 10 list, compiled by Science News for the eighth year, spotlights 10 early- and mid-career scientists on their way to widespread acclaim, and each scientist named was selected by a committee of Science News writers and editors—many of whom are experts in their fields—for their potential to shape the science of the future.

Sousa-Silva’s research studies how molecules in space interact with light, essential groundwork for scientists figuring out what the astronomical objects glimpsed through telescopes are made of. One day, she hopes her work will help identify traces of life in the atmospheres of worlds beyond Earth, including exoplanets, planets outside our solar system that humans will almost certainly never visit.

“While I don’t believe in ranking scientists, I am delighted to see my work be meaningful to others,” Sousa-Silva said. She came to Bard College after serving as a quantum astrochemist at the Center for Astrophysics, a collaboration between the Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Prior to her tenure at the center, she was a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her work investigates how molecules interact with light so that they can be detected on faraway worlds.

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Bard College is pleased to announce that it has received $124,936 from the Heising-Simons Foundation for a five-year project to simulate and detect potential biosignatures from exoplanets. The project, led by Assistant Professor of Physics Clara Sousa-Silva, will look for potential markers of life beyond Earth by expanding our understanding of how molecules behave in different atmospheric environments. “Currently, the most pressing limitation in the characterization of planets, and, ultimately, the detection of life, is our lack of understanding of molecules and their environmental interactions,” professor Sousa-Silva explains. “My research proposal aims to address this problem through a combination of quantum chemistry, astrobiology, and planetary sciences.”
 
Professor Sousa-Silva’s previous work focused on simulating spectra (the band of colors produced by the separation of components of light by wavelength) for biosignature gases. Now, with the development of more advanced observational technologies, she is able to apply that work more directly by studying the atmospheric spectrum of exoplanets and identifying molecules connected to life. In 2019, professor Sousa-Silva was named a 51 Pegasi b fellow with the Foundation. The fellowship, which is named for the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, provides three years of postdoctoral support to early-career scholars in planetary science and astronomy.
 
The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation that funds work that advances sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enables groundbreaking research in science, enhances the education of our youngest learners, and supports human rights for all people.

Speaking with Bard professors Francine Prose and Stephen Shore, Susan D’Agostino ’91 probes the legal and creative implications of the use of generative AI programs like ChatGPT and DALL-E for Inside Higher Ed. At the heart of the debate is whether these programs “copy” journalistic and creative works, or whether they could be considered “fair use,” D’Agostino writes. Alongside this concern is whether the output of these programs could be considered art—or human. “The question of ‘what is a human being?’ is resurfacing through this and starting really good discussions,” Prose told D’Agostino. “There’s so much pressure to dehumanize or commodify people, to tell young people that they are their Instagram page.” Some imagine a future where these kinds of programs are used to assist human artmaking, a future which may have already arrived. “Shore recently asked DALL-E—a generative AI image tool—to create a photograph in his style,” D’Agostino writes. Reviewing DALL-E’s output, Shore was “satisfied, if not wowed, by the result.” “I would have made one decision slightly differently, but it was pretty good,” he said.

Hal Haggard, associate professor of physics, talks with Space.com about white holes, cosmic phenomena that theoretically function like black holes in reverse. While nothing can escape a black hole, nothing can enter a white hole. To physicists studying black holes, the Big Bang’s explosion of matter and energy can look like potential white hole behavior. “The geometry is very similar in the two cases,” says Professor Haggard. “Even to the point of being mathematically identical at times.”

Dr. Felicia Keesing, Bard College’s David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing, was interviewed about ticks and how to protect against the diseases they spread in Scientific American. Tick-borne illnesses are increasing in the US, and climate change is causing warmer temperatures and more humidity which make it easier for ticks to survive in northern climates. “If you live in an area with tick-borne diseases, and most people in the United States do, you should educate yourself about the times of year and the kinds of habitats that put you at risk,” Keesing says. Precautions can be taken to avoid tick bites when spending time outdoors: wearing long clothing, tucking pant legs inside socks, using a permethrin insecticide on clothes, and checking for ticks back at home. “None of [these preventative measures] makes being outside feel all that glamorous,” Keesing told Scientific American. “It takes away some of that sense of freedom that we feel, but I’ve been living in this area for decades now, and it just becomes part of your practice. It’s just what you do.”

Bard Conservatory alumna Avery Morris ’18, who graduated with a BA in Mathematics and a BM in Violin Performance, has been selected for a prestigious Fulbright Study Research Award for 2023–24. Her project, “Gideon Klein’s Lost Works and the Legacy of Czech Musical Modernism,” aims to bring to light the early works of Czech composer and Holocaust victim Gideon Klein (1919–1945), which were lost until they were discovered in a suitcase in the attic of a house in Prague in the 1990s. She will live in Prague for the upcoming academic year and continue her research on Klein, which has been a focus of her studies at Stony Brook University, where she is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Violin Performance.

“What I found in mushrooms was this way of being that kind of slipped through the airspace in the soil; it was a way of being multiple things at once,” said Patricia Kaishian, visiting assistant professor of biology, on “REBIRTH,” an advaya podcast series. As early as graduate school, Kaishian found connections between the study of mycology and Queer theory. “I found it really fascinating why people were so confused and repulsed by the organisms that I had found this type of unique companionship with,” she said. “A lot at first was about the negativity, was about this rejection and this pathologization, and this way of viewing fungi as these disordered or, diseased, deadly, degenerate creatures, which are, of course, concepts and identifiers that have been leveraged against Queer people, against disabled people, against people of color, women, etc.” Mutualism was also a concept shared across mycology and Queer studies, which both place “an emphasis on the communal—you are your community; which is, obviously, this idea that was articulated in the context of survivors, like surviving, but also one that promises joy and promises beauty, and desire and pleasure and all of these things.”

The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities at Bard College is pleased to announce the findings of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI) after three consecutive years of research and data collection.

KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Sciences Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have facilitated both indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring projects throughout Ulster County. Standing as the first air quality study of its kind in Kingston, KAQI’s monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution as measured from the roof of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway in Kingston.

KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), made up of microscopic particles that are the products of burning fuel, and is released into the air through exhausts from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM 2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or exacerbating health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations – indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”

After 3 years of monitoring in Kingston, air quality trends associated with daily activities are observable. The findings show that air pollution in the city is variable and appears to have a seasonal context—higher levels of pollution are shown during colder months (associated with fuel burning), and lower levels are generally seen in spring and summer. The difference between levels seen during 2020—when COVID shut down many activities and resulted in a decrease in vehicles on the road—and pollution levels detected in years since is also significant.

Two important measures of PM2.5 air quality are the annual mean standard and the 24-hour average standard. Kingston’s PM2.5 air quality met the annual standards of both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the WHO, although it came close to exceeding the latter. For the 24-hour standard, air quality met the EPA’s but exceeded the WHO’s.

As of January, 2023, a revision was proposed to change the EPA's primary public health-based annual standard from its current level of 12.0 micrograms per meter squared  to the range of 9.0-10.0 micrograms per meter squared. This revision would lean closer toward, but not come close to meeting, the WHO's PM 2.5 annual standard of 5 micrograms per meter squared.  Based on the EPA annual mean calculations, these values come close to exceeding the WHO annual standard.
 
One factor associated with instances of air quality breaching the WHO’s 24-hour threshold is the development of atmospheric inversions, which occur when the temperature of the atmosphere increases instead of decreases with altitude and surface level air parcels are unable to rise up, trapping any present air pollution at ground level. Being in the Hudson Valley, Kingston is more susceptible to inversion events as the air is blocked from all directions.  It's possible that, if Kingston residents were aware of when these events are occurring, we could start making different decisions about woodburning and car use during these times to make our air cleaner for all. Another potential factor may be pollutants from smoke carried from wildfires on the West Coast.

More detail about KAQI’s findings can be found at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/

“While our annual averages meet EPA standards, as many residents of Kingston and the surrounding areas know, air quality at ground level can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood,” said Lorraine Farina, co-founder of KAQI  and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition, and former Kingston CAC air quality sub-committee chair. “The average adult takes in 1000 breaths per hour, and exposures to dangerous fine particulate matter very much depend on whether wood is being burned nearby, as burning wood is dirtier and more polluting than burning oil, gas, or coal. There is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5, so the expanding neighborhood-level monitoring efforts of the Bard Community Science Lab will help residents understand the actual air quality right where they are breathing, so we can all make choices that benefit both our health and that of the planet.”

“I want to thank Bard and the Community Sciences Lab for allowing Kingston to participate in this initiative,” said Steve Noble, the mayor of Kingston. “I am pleased to see that our air quality is superior to many of the places around us, but it’s a profound reminder that our daily activities do impact our health, and the health of our environment. We appreciate Bard’s investment in monitoring Kingston’s air, as it has been an invaluable learning tool. Together with Kingston’s Conservation Advisory Council, we will continue to monitor local air quality alerts, and will continue to work together with leaders in our region on policy and initiatives for cleaner air.” 

Dr. Eli Dueker, co-director of the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, added, “Clean air is something we often take for granted in the Hudson Valley. Our findings show that meeting annual EPA standards (particularly current standards) is one thing, but on a day-to-day basis, our air quality is sometimes degraded and can be unhealthy. After all, we are not breathing on an average yearly basis—we are breathing on a second-by-second basis. We can make decisions as a community to keep our own air clean – for example, we could reduce or even stop our wood-burning in city limits (particularly on days with atmospheric inversions), reduce our car use, and make our homes more energy efficient.”
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities at Bard College, in collaboration with KAQI, has been working on a handful of air quality related projects centralized around community needs and concerns. These include:

• Developing a publicly-accessible atmospheric inversion monitoring system for the Kingston area.
• Neighborhood-level air quality monitoring, through the fast-developing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. Using outdoor real-time air quality monitoring devices stationed at public libraries, air quality data is free and accessible online. We are always looking for new locations throughout the Hudson Valley to add to the network and provide more localized data for residents. If any libraries are interested, please reach out to [email protected].
• In partnership with SUNY-Albany, conducting indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring in homes with woodsmoke, mold and structurally-related air quality challenges.

For more information or ways to get involved, please visit https://kingston-ny.gov/airquality or https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/.

Craig Anderson, the Wallace Benjamin Flint and L. May Hawver Professor of Chemistry and director of undergraduate research in the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard, has been named the 2023 Chemistry Division Outstanding Mentor by the Council on Undergraduate Research. The award honors transformative mentoring and advising by higher education faculty across all subdisciplines of chemistry. “I am extremely grateful and honored to be selected as the 2023 Council on Undergraduate Research, Chemistry Division Outstanding Mentorship Awardee,” Professor Anderson said. “This would not have been possible without the support of our students, our faculty, and our college leadership. I look forward to continuing to promote opportunities for undergraduate research.” The Council on Undergraduate Research, founded in 1978, is an organization of individual, institutional, and affiliate members from around the world that aims to support and promote high-quality mentored undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.

Juliana Maitenaz ’22, who graduated with a BA in Global and International Studies and a BM in Classical Percussion Performance, has been selected for an independent study–research Fulbright scholarship to Brazil for the 2023–24 academic year. Her project, “Rhythm and Statecraft,” seeks to identify Brazilian percussion and rhythms as a method of cultural communication. Maitenaz aims to conduct her research in São Paulo and will focus on how percussional elements in the Brazilian traditions of Carnival and Samba School performances are instrumental to the country’s statecraft and national identity. The goal of her research is to examine international communication and collaboration through cultural and musical diplomacy. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about the role Brazilian percussion plays as an inspiring means of cultural communication,” Maitenaz said. 
 
Evan Tims ’19, who was a joint major in Written Arts and Human Rights with a focus on anthropology at Bard, has been selected for a Fulbright-Nehru independent study–research scholarship to India for the 2023–24 academic year. His project, “From the River to Tomorrow: Perceptions of Kolkata’s Water Future,” studies the perceptions of Kolkata’s water future among urban planners, infrastructure experts, and communities—such as those who work in river transport, fishing, and who live in housing along the banks—most vulnerable to water changes along the Hooghly River. He will analyze the dominant narratives of the city and river’s future and reference scientific and planning literature in understanding the points of confluence and divergence between scientific and colloquial understandings of the river, particularly as different stakeholder communities approach an uncertain water future. “In light of urban development and climate change, Kolkata’s water is facing significant change over the coming decades,” said Tims. “It is crucial to understand the complex, layered relationships between stakeholder communities as they seek to negotiate an increasingly uncertain water future.” While in India, Tims also plans to teach a climate fiction writing workshop. In 2021-2022, he was Bard’s first recipient of the yearlong Henry J. Luce Scholarship, which enabled him to conduct ethnographic research on Himalayan water futures and lead a climate writing workshop in Nepal and, later, in Bangladesh. Earlier this academic year, Tims won the prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship to China. As an undergraduate at Bard, Tims also won two Critical Language Scholarships to study Bangla in Kolkata during the summers of 2018 and 2019. Read an interview with Tims about Southeast Asia's place in contemporary climate fiction here.
 
Elias Ephron ’23, a joint major in Political Studies and Spanish Studies, has been selected as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) to Spain for the 2023–24 academic year. While in Spain, Ephron hopes to engage with his host community through food, sharing recipes, hosting dinner parties, and cooking together; take part in Spain’s unique and visually stunning cultural events, like flamenco performances, and Semana Santa processions; visit the hometown of the great poet and playwright Federico García Lorca; and, as a queer individual, meet other queer people. “Having learned Spanish, French, and German to fluency or near-fluency, I understand that language learning requires many approaches. Some are more commonly thought of as ‘fun’ or ‘nascent’ modes of learning, while others more clearly resemble work. I hope to marry this divide, showing students that language learning is both labor and recreation; they may have to work hard, but it can be a great deal of fun, too,” said Ephron. In addition to his work as a writing tutor in the Bard Learning Commons, Ephron has received multiple awards, including the PEN America Fellowship and the Bard Center for the Study of Hate Internship Scholarship.  
 
Eleanor Tappen ’23, a Spanish Studies major, has been selected as a Fulbright ETA to Mexico for the 2023–24 academic year. Tappen has studied abroad in Granada, Spain, received her TESOL certification (which involved 40 hours of training), volunteered in a local elementary school in the fall of 2022, and works as an ESL tutor at the Learning Commons. For Tappen, a Fulbright teaching assistantship in Mexico is an intersection of her academic interest in Mexican literature and her passion for accessible and equitable language learning. During her Fulbright year, Tappen intends to volunteer at a local community garden, a setting she found ideal for cross-cultural exchange and friendship during her time at the Bard Farm. She also hopes to learn about pre-Colombian farming practices, whose revival is currently being led by indigenous movements in Mexico seeking to confront issues presented by unsustainable industrial agricultural practices. “I’m thrilled by the opportunity to live in the country whose literature and culture have served as such positive and significant points in both my academic and personal life. During my time as an ETA in Mexico, I hope to inspire in my students the same love of language-learning I found at Bard.”
 
Biology major Macy Jenks ’23 has been selected as an ETA to Taiwan for the 2023–24 academic year. Jenks is an advanced Mandarin language speaker having attended a Chinese immersion elementary school and continuing her Mandarin language studies through high school and college, including three weeks spent in China living with host family in 2015. She has tutored students in English at Bard’s Annandale campus, as well as through the Bard Prison Initiative at both Woodbourne Correctional Facility and Eastern New York Correctional Facility. She also has worked with the Bard Center for Civic Engagement to develop curricula and provide STEM programming to local middle and high school students. “As a Fulbright ETA, I hope to equip students with the tools necessary to hone their English language and cultural skills while encouraging them to develop their own voices,” says Jenks. While in Taiwain, she plans to volunteer with the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps, which offers medical care to rural communities, or with the Taipei Medical University in a more urban setting to further engage with the community and learn more about Taiwan’s healthcare systems and settings. With her love of hiking, Jenks also hopes to explore various cultural sites including the cave temples of Lion’s Head Mountain and Fo Guang Shan monastery and enjoy the natural beauty of Taiwan.

Bard Conservatory alumna Avery Morris ’18, who graduated with a BA in Mathematics and a BM in Violin Performance, has been selected for a prestigious Fulbright Study Research Award for 2023–24. Her project, “Gideon Klein’s Lost Works and the Legacy of Czech Musical Modernism,” aims to bring to light the early works of Czech composer and Holocaust victim Gideon Klein (1919–1945), which were lost until they were discovered in a suitcase in the attic of a house in Prague in the 1990s. She will live in Prague for the upcoming academic year and continue her research on Klein, which has been a focus of her studies at Stony Brook University, where she is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Violin Performance.

Getzamany "Many" Correa ’21, a Global and International Studies major, has been selected as an ETA to Spain for the 2023–24 academic year. Correa was an international student in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary. As an international student in high school, she started an initiative called English Conversation Buddies with the State Department-sponsored American Corner in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has received her TESOL certification (which involved 40 hours of training) and worked as an ESL tutor at the Learning Commons. In Spain, Correa hopes to create a book club that introduces students to diverse authors writing in English, study Spanish literature, and host dinners with the locals she meets. She also plans to volunteer with EducationUSA and support students applying to colleges and universities in the U.S. “A year-long ETA in Spain will allow me to experience a culture and language central to my academic and personal interests, leverage my background in education while furthering my teaching experience, and make meaningful connections through cross-cultural engagement,” says Correa.
 
The Fulbright US Student Program expands perspectives through academic and professional advancement and cross-cultural dialogue. Fulbright creates connections in a complex and changing world. In partnership with more than 140 countries worldwide, the Fulbright US Student Program offers unparalleled opportunities in all academic disciplines to passionate and accomplished graduating college seniors, graduate students, and young professionals from all backgrounds. Program participants pursue graduate study, conduct research, or teach English abroad. us.fulbrightonline.org.