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When Tierney Weymueller first came to Bard for Language and Thinking, she was struck by how much was happening on campus. "I remember during L&T just being so amazed that we would go to hear the orchestra, then to the museum on campus, and then to go see a play. There were just so many different things going on all at once in this space. . . . I remember that being really exciting."

Tierney grew up all over, and has lived in New Mexico, Ireland, and Canada, among other places. Bard's programs in dance and environmental science attracted her from the start. She had always lived in cities, and was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the campus and her growing love for the Hudson Valley area.

At first, Tierney decided to pursue both dance and environmental and urban studies. But she had an eye-opening experience taking a class with Eli Dueker that focused on science accessibility. She decided to major in EUS with a focus on communications. Her academic work has centered around “how to make science accessible to people, or how to make it interesting, relatable, and transparent.” At Bard, Tierney made time to be involved with the Dance Program by taking dance classes and performing in other students' Senior Projects.

Taking the Water course with Professor Dueker cemented Tierney’s interest in science communication and environmental education. For Tierney, the class was “a perfect blend of scientific components and the various social issues around water. . . . We did group experiments, and my group worked at a farm in Red Hook. Our project was water colony testing, but then we also ended up organizing a tree planting and working with this farmer. I got to see how environmental science could be more holistic: it wasn’t just me in the lab by myself; it was a way of addressing social issues that I was interested in, kind of like this whole package."

Tierney has interned with the Saw Kill Watershed Community. There, she attended the monthly community meetings and assisted in organizing their water monitoring program. During her time at Bard, Tierney's involvement with the community helped her “understand that this whole outreach and communications side to science is ultimately what I’m really excited about.”

She also worked in the Eel Project. Every spring the glass eels migrate up into different tributaries of the Hudson. Using a net at the Bard Field Station, volunteers count the number of eels and then set them free.

Last summer, Tierney taught on the Hudson River sloop Clearwater. The Clearwater is an environmental education vessel, originally built by Pete Seeger, that sails up and down the Hudson. People go onboard to learn about the ecology and history of the river. The Clearwater focuses especially on educating young people so they’ll gain a new appreciation for the river and learn to protect it.

Tierney's Senior Project was an environmental oral history about people who work on, live near, and otherwise use the Saw Kill. She conducted interviews exploring people's relationships to the river and historical or ecological knowledge about it, and then wrote stories about the Saw Kill from these different perspectives.

In 2018, Tierney received three awards from the College: the Hudsonia Prize (shared with Elinor Stapylton), awarded by Hudsonia Ltd. to a student showing promise in the field of environmental studies; the Patricia Ross Weis '52 Scholarship, awarded to talented students in the social sciences who uphold Bard's values by ensuring a strong community; and the Rachel Carson Prize, honoring an outstanding Senior Project in environmental and urban studies that reflects Carson's determination to promote biocentric sensibility.

"The best part about Bard," Tierney observes, "is how your classes and activities connect to the community around the College. I have loved getting to know people in the Hudson Valley. Like the Saw Kill Watershed Community and the Clearwater staff—I’ve just gotten to know this group of people that’s really invested and active in this area. That has also become my community outside of Bard." She adds, "Without the professors here, I wouldn't have realized how this kind of work is really important to me. I wouldn't have known that this kind of community outreach around science exists; so it’s really exciting. . . . I love this area. The Hudson River—adore it. The fact that we can, as students, walk through the Tivoli Bays—I walked that walk every day last summer."

Tierney is now traveling through Europe with her two roommates from her first year at Bard. In the fall, she will begin work for the World Ocean School on board the historic schooner Roseway.
 

Monica Elkinton is the assistant municipal attorney for Anchorage, Alaska, the largest municipality in the state. "Anchorage contains about half the population of Alaska, about half a million people," Monica notes. "It's the most racially diverse city in the United States." Her job is to defend the city from lawsuits like personal injury or employment discrimination. "I am a civil litigator and go to court all the time, including doing jury trials. I also advise the municipal departments on legal issues. I like that it's a stable job, but with some excitement and variety, and the opportunity to learn all about how our local government works."
 
Monica studied mathematics at Bard and went on to Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. She was also a TLS Scholar. "I loved participating in Math Table for lunch and Pi Day parties, but I knew math graduate school wasn't for me." When Monica was a first-year student, Professor Lauren Rose told her, "Math majors can do anything. They can even go to law school." That stuck in her mind.

"In the 2000 election, the Dutchess County Board of Elections wouldn't let Bard students register to vote," Monica remembers. "So I organized a bunch of protests and we talked to a lawyer from the New York Civil Liberties Union and got help from the Dutchess County Democratic Party." Monica befriended a party leader who worked for Senator Chuck Schumer. She offered Monica a part-time unpaid summer internship in her office. These were Monica's first steps into a career in law.
 
After graduating from Bard, Monica went to Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. The school "has paragraph evaluations instead of grades and focuses on public service and social justice instead of competition. It also has mandatory internships as part of the law school graduation requirements." Some students choose to do their internships in Boston, but Monica decided to do hers all over the country. She worked for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and then for public defenders in Alaska, Kentucky, and Miami. After graduation she became a criminal defense attorney in Anchorage, before taking her current position for the city.
  
Monica sought breadth in her Bard education. She took as many nonmajor classes at the College as she could, including courses in the music, religion, political studies, art, literature, and history programs. "All of it helped me to figure out what I wanted to do for a career, along with what I did not want to do," she recalls. "Bard taught me to be creative and to not be too scared about thinking outside the box. A math background helps me line up my ideas in a linear way, and use logic to draw conclusions. Writing proofs in math is pretty similar to writing legal briefs. I wrote so many papers at Bard that writing is also completely second nature to me. I am always surprised how many people there are in the world that don't know how to write."

Her advice for current Bard students? "When I started at Bard, I didn't really know what to major in. When I started law school, I didn't really know what kind of law I wanted to practice. It's OK not to know, and to be exposed to lots of different things. You'll figure it out." She adds, "Try out as many things as you want. You'll never know until you try. ... There's a whole big world out there of possible jobs. Find as many people as possible who actually work in the field you want and talk to them about what it takes to get there."
  
Monica's favorite aspect of her time at Bard was the faculty in the Mathematics Program. "I loved my department faculty, and how close the Math and Computer Science Programs were. I also don't think I've ever had a chance since Bard to go to so many film screenings and art and photo shows. The student art and music were amazing!"
 

Cameron Ogg ’11 is a graduate research assistant and Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Cameron graduated from Bard in 2011 with a degree in biology and a concentration in global public health. After Bard, she worked at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital before going to graduate school.
 
Describing her research at the University of Tennessee, Cameron says, "In the lab, I use neuroimaging as well as behavioral approaches to better understand how different brain states, such as attention, can modulate sensory processing and lead to changes in perception." Whether presenting her work at a conference or teaching kids at brain awareness events, she enjoys sharing science with others. "I hadn’t realized that this isn’t the case with all scientists (there are plenty who would love to stay behind the bench). I’m hoping to cultivate and utilize this enthusiasm and excitement as I move forward in my scientific career."
 
As a Bard senior, Cameron realized that she wanted to attend graduate school, but she decided to take some time off after graduation to make sure it was the right choice. She worked for a year in the Small Animal Imaging Core at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. "Working in a research environment solidified my desire to attend grad school." She began her program the following fall.
 
Several linguistics classes that she took at Bard stimulated her interest in neuroscience. "Without this exposure to the humanities, I wouldn’t have found the scientific field I love now!" she observes. Cameron's Senior Project examined tick-borne illnesses. "My mentor at Bard, Dr. Felicia Keesing, encouraged me to participate in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. This early research experience, along with the critical and creative thinking cultivated at Bard, has proven so valuable to me in the years since."
  
Cameron advises current Bard students to be flexible as they approach their careers and life after graduation. "You may have a very specific plan about 'what you want to be,' but unexpected opportunities can end up being better than you could have imagined! Consider and explore alternatives—at the very least, you’ll have grown from the experience."
  
What did she enjoy most about Bard? "Don Eastman, the president of Eckerd College, said that a liberal arts education 'provides… for the development of the skills necessary… to become effective and thoughtful citizens of the world.' I am so thankful that not only did I get to become an educated citizen of the world at Bard, but that my son, who was born while I was at Bard, did as well. It’s more important than ever these days!"

Professor Swapan Jain publishes his research with Bard undergraduates in the journal Chemical Communications, in an article titled "A ruthenium–platinum metal complex that binds to sarcin ricin loop RNA and lowers mRNA expression."
 

The new deployment is “most probably in support of U.S. objectives in Libya, where the U.S. has for several years used drones to mitigate the threats posed by Islamic militant groups.”

The global environmental impacts of meat and dairy farming are far more damaging than previously thought, a new study shows. Professor Eshel weighs in on the results.