News

We still know little about COVID-19, but one of the few certainties is that it is a zoonotic disease. This means that at some point in recent history it jumped from an animal to a human. Bard biologist Felicia Keesing’s work shows how a loss of biodiversity increases the risk of disease transmission. “More biodiversity equals more predators and parasites and therefore less density of any species hosting a pathogen,” says Professor Keesing. “But reduce that diversity and not only do you have more host species, but you also increase encounter rates between pathogens and hosts.”

Though no proven treatment for COVID-19 currently exists, virologist Juliet Morrison ’03 feels there’s a good chance one will emerge. Morrison, an assistant professor of microbiology and plant pathology at University of California Riverside, investigates the science behind promising avenues for new antiviral therapies. In this interview, she explains what those are and weighs in on drugs being tested.

The United States needs tens of millions of nasal swabs if it’s going to test enough people for COVID-19 to safely reopen the economy, but swabs are in short supply. A consortium of academics, medical workers, and manufacturers has joined forces to relieve the bottleneck through 3D printing.

Bard alumnus Adam Baz is an urban falconer based in Los Angeles. Operating as Hawk on Hand, Adam works in bird abatement, scaring away “pest birds” from places like farms, airports, and solar panels. He also performs demonstrations and offers educational programs. But can the “hawk hustle” withstand a sluggish economy and increased competition from aspiring young falconers?

Michel, founder of Bard’s Center for the Study of the Drone and now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council, talks to Alex Woodson about the ACLU’s First Amendment challenge to Baltimore’s experimental aerial surveillance program, and the broader issue of surveillance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With panic buying at grocery stores, restaurant closures, and rising unemployment, food waste and food insecurity are on the rise. Bard alumna Elizabeth Royte reports on what can be done about it.

“Life in the era of COVID-19, as in all times of crisis, amplifies our basic instincts. Do we become anxious or confident, selfish or generous, rigid or adaptable? The same applies to institutions. And right now, at this moment of national and global crisis, Bard College is demonstrating who we are: student-focused, innovative, entrepreneurial, and civically engaged.” —Jonathan Becker, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College

A broad network of Bard faculty and staff—including Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco and Ross Exo Adams in the Bard Architecture and Design Program; Maggie Hazen and Melinda Solis in Studio Arts; IT’s Doug O’Connor, Hayden Sartoris, and Christopher Ahmed; and the Philosophy Program’s Katie Tabb—has come together to produce face shields for frontline health-care workers who are grappling with a nationwide shortage of protective gear.

With two 3D printers loaned by Bard physicist Paul Cadden-Zimansky, Exo Adams and Santoyo-Orozco set up a makeshift lab in Tivoli to fabricate reusable face shields for health-care workers. When the lab is fully operational, they expect to produce up to 50 shields per week. Hazen and Solis have begun a production line as well, using 3D printers purchased with proceeds from a GoFundMe campaign established by MFA alumna Luba Drozd ’15 that has raised more than $20,000. A small batch of shields has already been distributed to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson, New York, and the group is now looking for more distribution options in the Hudson Valley. Deliveries of face shields are also scheduled for Albany Medical Center and, in Dover, New Jersey, Saint Clare’s Hospital, where a Bard student’s relative works and on whose behalf the student made a request. Anyone interested in distribution or in assisting with the project should contact Doug O’Connor ([email protected]), who is centralizing the distribution efforts with the help of CCS Bard students.

And in Annandale, members of the Fisher Center’s Costume Shop—together with Audrey Smith from Buildings and Grounds, Rosalia Reifler from Environmental Services, and Saidee Brown from the President’s Office—have sewn nearly 200 face masks for the essential College employees who remain on campus.
 
To learn more about virtual engagement opportunities at Bard, visit Bard Connects.

Researchers and doctors around the world are in a race to save lives, not only through caring for patients sick with COVID-19 but also in the hunt to discover an effective treatment or vaccine. Bard alum Alex John London ’94, whose research focuses on ethical and policy issues surrounding the development of novel technologies in medicine, says that in the rush to do science quickly, it is easy to make mistakes. “The point of research is to reduce uncertainty—to sort out dead ends from fruitful treatment strategies. But if you don’t do rigorous science, you can wind up increasing uncertainty, which can actually make things worse.”

“The reason we experience fear and anxiety is because our brains evolved to notice and pay attention to threats,” says Hallion. “In prehistoric times, those threats were sometimes predators, but they were sometimes diseases and viruses like the one we’re experiencing now. If your brain is afraid and doesn’t want to let you pay attention to anything but coronavirus (COVID-19), it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do to keep you, your loved ones, and your community safe.”