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A new study led by Gidon Eshel, research professor of environmental and urban studies at Bard College, which found that grass-fed beef did not hold a carbon emissions benefit compared to grain-fed, was featured in the Washington Post. Some ranchers and conservationists have posited that grass-fed beef is better for the planet than grain-fed cows—which have been shown to produce lower methane emissions because they grow faster and are slaughtered younger—by arguing that grazing fields store carbon underground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. However the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used newly available US data comparing pasture where cows were grazing to grass that had been left undisturbed and factored the carbon storage in the soil into the overall carbon footprint of grass-fed beef, and compared this to the emissions from grain-fed systems. It showed that the emissions per kilogram of protein of even the most efficient grass-fed beef operations were 10–25% higher than those of grain-fed beef. “Accounting for soil sequestration lowers the emissions, and makes grass-fed beef more similar to industrial beef, but it does not under any circumstances make this beef desirable in terms of carbon balance,” Eshel told the Post. “That argument does not hold.”

Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, was interviewed in Jacobin about how crucial scientific data required for her research had vanished from federal government servers. Sousa-Silva’s research studying the atmospheres of other planets relies on climate monitoring data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “This data disappearance coincides with the aggressive implementation of two intertwined initiatives from the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump’s campaign to purge the federal government of anything ‘woke,’ including efforts to combat climate change,” writes Meagan Day for Jacobin. “The consequences for my research on Venus are pretty bad,” said Sousa-Silva. “I will be a worse astrophysicist. But that feels pretty minor considering the importance of being able to monitor how our climate is changing. To climate science, this is absolutely disastrous.”

Associate Professor of Mathematics Lauren Rose was invited to give a workshop as part of SIGMAA Inquiry-Based Learning’s Workshop Series. Rose showed that one way to develop and explore active learning strategies is through the use of puzzles and games, which can be used to introduce and explore mathematical concepts related to the course material, or as a way to invite exploration. The benefits include fostering mathematical habits of mind, creating inclusive collaborative environments, leveling the playing field, and creating a non-judgmental space for all students to thrive. Rose embraces the fun of teaching and learning mathematics. She modelled ways that educators, no matter their familiarity with these games, can incorporate Rubik’s cubes, EvenQuads, Dominos, and Julia Robinson Math Festival puzzles into meaningful classroom activities. 
 

Clara Sousa-Silva, assistant professor of physics at Bard College, delivered the presentation “Alien Life, and How to Find It” for the D&H Canal Historical Society in High Falls, New York. Sousa-Silva’s research looks for signs of life elsewhere in the universe using astronomical tools to detect faint signals emitted by potential alien biospheres. In her presentation, she discusses how molecules interact with light so that they can be detected on faraway worlds, and breaks down how those interactions can broadcast much about a planet—including how any molecule associated with life can leave specific signatures. “You can think of our atmosphere and its light as a planet-sized message communicating to the galaxy that we have oceans and forests and varied ecosystems with rich life cycles,” she said. “What are we looking for when we look for a planet and try to find out if it’s inhabited by something, anything? Well, we know the laws of physics are universal, and we know that chemistry is universal. We can and have tested many of these physical and chemical boundaries of the universe, and we know the rules that bind them. But what might be the universal laws of biology?  Well, we don’t know, but we can start with what we do know.”

Five 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, who will study or intern in over 90 countries, represents more than 500 US colleges and universities.

Bard College Mathematics and Italian Studies double major Ezra Calderon ’25, from Harlem, New York, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study at the University of Trento in Italy via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “This scholarship provides an exciting opportunity to improve my language skills and conduct research while abroad for my Senior Project in Italian Studies,” says Calderon.

Bard College Studio Art major Adelaide Driver ’26, from Taos, New Mexico, has been awarded a $4000 Gilman Scholarship to study at Kyoto Seika University in Japan, for the spring semester 2025. “Receiving this scholarship means the world to me. I have always wanted to study abroad, but money was a concern. This scholarship provides the opportunity to study what I love in an incredible place. I am so grateful,” says Driver. She serves as a peer counselor at Bard and will be studying illustration at Kyoto Seika.

Bard College junior Dashely Julia ’26, who is jointly majoring in Architecture and Art History with a concentration in Latin American and Iberian studies, has been awarded a $3000 Gilman Scholarship to study at Bard College Berlin in Germany, for the spring semester 2025. “Winning the Gilman Scholarship holds profound significance for me. It represents the opportunity to engage with diverse cultures and gain new perspectives that will enrich my understanding of art history and architecture. As someone deeply passionate about exploring how cultural and historical contexts shape artistic and architectural practices, studying abroad is more than an academic pursuit—it is a lifelong dream come true,” says Julia, who is a Posse Puerto Rico Scholar and lead peer mentor for the Office of Equity and Inclusion at Bard.

Bard College Computer Science major Nyla Lawrence ’26, from Atlanta, Georgia, has been awarded a $5,000 Gilman scholarship to study at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “My grandmother told me this quote from Derek Bok: ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.’ There is always something to be ignorant about but, I am happy the Gilman Scholarship provides others and myself the ability to learn more about the world while also studying. Studying abroad not only allows for broader education opportunities, but also life lessons and responsibility before exiting college, which I am really excited for,” says Lawrence, who will be learning Mandarin, her third language after English and German, to better communicate and traverse the land. Lawrence is currently one of three captains of the Bard women’s volleyball team and the Katherine Lynne Mester Memorial Scholar in Humanities for the 2024–2025 academic year at Bard.

Bard College Psychology major Brenda Lopez ’26, from Bronx, New York, has been awarded a $3,000 Gilman scholarship to study at Kyung Hee University in Seoul via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “I couldn’t be more grateful, and I can’t wait to see how this scholarship helps me when spending my time in Korea,” says Lopez. At Bard, Lopez is part of the Trustee Leader Scholar Project Nicaragua Education Initiative and a clubhead for the K-DIARY club on campus.

The Department of State awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to approximately 1,600 American undergraduate students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, in this fall 2024 cycle. All scholarship recipients are US undergraduate students with established high financial need as federal Pell Grant recipients. On average, 65 percent of Gilman recipients are from rural areas and small towns across the United States, and half are first-generation college or university students.

Since the program’s inception in 2001, more than 44,000 Gilman scholars have studied or interned in more than 170 countries around the globe. Supported by the US Congress, the Gilman Scholarship is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is aided in its implementation by the Institute of International Education. To learn more about the Gilman Scholarship and its recipients, including this newest cohort, visit gilmanscholarship.org.

To mark the occasion of 100 years of quantum mechanics and to inspire its future applications, the United Nations (UN) has proclaimed 2025 to be the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). The UN resolution recommends the year to be “observed through activities at all levels aimed at increasing public awareness of the importance of quantum science and applications.” UNESCO and the IYQ Secretariat have named Associate Professor of Physics Paul Cadden-Zimansky one of four Global Coordinators for IYQ in recognition of his involvement in bringing this year of international awareness to fruition and coordinating aspects of some of the highest profile global events, including the IYQ 2025 Opening Ceremony at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris this February. Professor Cadden-Zimansky is described as “the physicist at Bard College who set the ball rolling that eventually resulted in the UN declaration” in the cover story of the January 1, 2025 issue of Physics Today. “In physics, everyone understands how central quantum mechanics has become, but that’s not the case for the public,” said Cadden-Zimansky. Professor Cadden-Zimansky is also scheduled to speak about quantum at the Consumer Electronics Convention, the world’s largest annual tech event, in Las Vegas on January 9.

Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude spoke to The Scientist magazine about her collaboration with microbiologist Anne Madden, who is founder and chief scientific officer of The Microbe Institute. Their collaboration, Find Purple, Frog-Saving Microbes, is a participatory science (citizen science) and community bioart project to conserve amphibians. Their project focuses on finding and understanding the biogeography of naturally purple-pigmented bacteria that help amphibians fight off a pandemic caused by a deadly fungus that is decimating unique populations of frogs, toads, salamanders, axolotls, and newts. Jude explains how the two scientists began to work together on this project: “We started thinking that a lot of our work overlapped in interesting ways, that some of the things that [Anne] was doing in The Microbe Institute, in terms of communicating about these projects that the general public could truly understand and sink their teeth into and enjoy and be passionate about. How do you get that word out?” Part of their project involved citizen science, which encouraged science enthusiasts to sample local waterways, grow microbes, and upload data on whether they found purple-pigmented bacteria. They also received funding from National Geographic to develop educational materials about purple microbes for middle and high school students.

In an article for National Geographic, science writer and Bard alumna Elizabeth Royte ’81 explores the life cycles and habitats of rattlesnakes, and the various conservation efforts to protect them. More than 50 species of rattlesnakes occur exclusively throughout the Americas, and Royte notes that though there may be pockets where they thrive, the fate of most of the venomous snakes is grim. “From southwestern Canada to central Argentina, people continue to capture them for the pet or skin trade, swerve to flatten them as they warm themselves on roads, and chop up their habitat with subdivisions, pipelines, and cell towers,” she writes for National Geographic. “Timber rattlesnakes, once abundant, have been extirpated in a number of northern US states and Ontario, and they’re threatened or endangered in pockets throughout their broad US range. Several other species are categorized from generally threatened to critically endangered.”

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 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.”