News

Jennifer Cordi, associate professor of biology at Bard High School Early College Manhattan, has been selected to receive a 2014 Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics from the Fund for the City of New York. Professor Cordi joins six other extraordinary New York City public high school science and mathematics teachers in receiving this prestigious award. The prize carries a $5,000 award for Professor Cordi and a $2,500 award for the BHSEC Biology Program, to be presented in a ceremony at the Great Hall at New York City's Cooper Union on Wednesday, December 3. Professor Cordi teaches evolutionary biology, botany, and general biology. Her research focuses on Middle Devonian fossil plants and the evolutionary patterns of vascular plant groups. She is a fellow of the New York Academy for Teachers.

On Tuesday, November 18, the Bard Math Circle will host the middle-school-level American Mathematics Competition (AMC 8) exam. In its third year at Bard, this 25-question, 40-minute exam contains engaging math problems that are challenging at the middle-school level, and is intended to inspire, promote enthusiasm, and foster a healthy attitude toward mathematics. Students will be exposed to the richness of middle-school-level mathematics at a deeper level than is ordinarily encountered in the schools.

What's behind the increased popularity of gluten-free diets? Environmental and urban studies professor Michael Specter investigates.

Every summer, young people who might not otherwise have access to math enrichment come to Bard for the Summer Program for Mathematical Problem Solving.

Gidon Eshel has shown that the existing infrastructure can meet the region's power needs well into the future. He will discuss his findings again at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Campus Center.

What makes herpes viruses so difficult to kill? Biophysicist Z. Hong Zhou may have found the answer in a layer of microscopic chain mail, writes Bard biology alumna Diana Crow '13.

Neuroscientist Stephanie Kadison, a biology professor at Bard High School Early College Queens, received a STEM Hero Award from the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) during the United Nations 69th Annual General Assembly on September 22. Professor Kadison was recognized as an exceptional educator who inspires young people to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She was a member of the first cohort of the NYAS's Afterschool STEM Mentoring Fellowship Program, in which she taught genetics to underserved middle school students, an experience that inspired her to become a teacher. The inaugural STEM Hero Awards were given to 10 individuals. Other honorees included Datin Seri Hajah Rosmah binti Mansor, the first lady of Malaysia; Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda; and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chairperson of the African Union. The NYAS award ceremony accompanied the launch of their Global STEM Alliance, a public-private partnership that brings together governments, companies, schools and NGOs to increase access to STEM education around the world.