Citizen Science Blog

Tuesday, January 24th in Olin Hall
Groups 16-23

Rebecca Thomas, Ph.D.

Deriving a Simplified Noun/Verb Vocabulary from a Text

Automatic text simplification is helpful for some audiences, including adults with limited literacy and (our original motivation) people with difficulty speaking who thus make use of Augmented and Assistive Communication devices. Successful text simplification will likely depend on the coordination of software tools including syntactic parsers, semantic knowledge bases, and lexical disambiguation.
 
Focusing on the lexical portion of text simplification, we propose and evaluate five related algorithms that automatically derive limited-size vocabularies of nouns or verbs from text documents of 2,000-30,000 words. The proposed algorithms combine Personalized Page Rank (Agirre & Soroa, 2009) and principles of information maximization, using WordNet (Miller, 1995) as an additional source of semantic information.
 
For the best-performing algorithm, the difference between automatically generated reduced-size vocabularies and the vocabularies used by human writers of simplified (and therefore limited-vocabulary) texts is approximately 1-2 WordNet graph edges per word. The best-performing algorithm performs word-sense disambiguation with sentence-level context information at the earliest stage of analysis, indicating that this computationally expensive task is nonetheless valuable.

Anna Tyler, Ph.D.

Functional reorganization in the hippocampus following status epilepticus correlates with memory deficits in rats

Status epilepticus (SE), an epileptic seizure lasting 30 or more minutes, is a common medical neurological emergency. It is associated with the later development of epilepsy, behavioral disruption and cognitive impairment. In both humans and rats, SE has been shown to lead to neuronal loss in the limbic system, predominantly in the hippocampus, as well as mossy fiber sprouting in the dentate gyrus. Although neuronal death may contribute to cognitive impairment, it is also possible that the communication between remaining neurons is reorganized, and that this reorganization contributes to reduced cognitive abilities. To investigate this possibility, we examine the effects of SE on the structure of functional networks in the rat hippocampus. We use entropy maximization to build functional networks between single neurons recorded in the rat hippocampus. We find that structural changes in these networks following SE correlate with deficits in spatial memory.

Guillaume Vogt, Ph.D.

In vitro differentiation of human macrophages with enhanced antimycobacterial activity

Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes widespread, persistent infection, often residing in macrophages that neither sterilize the bacilli nor allow them to cause disease. How macrophages restrict growth of pathogens is one of many aspects of human phagocyte biology whose study relies largely on macrophages differentiated from monocytes in vitro. However, such cells fail to recapitulate the phenotype of tissue macrophages in key respects, including that they support early, extensive replication of M. tuberculosis and die in several days. Here we found that human macrophages could survive infection, kill Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and severely limit the replication of M. tuberculosis for several weeks if differentiated in 40% human plasma under 5%–10% (physiologic) oxygen in the presence of GM-CSF and/or TNF-α followed by IFN-γ. Control was lost with fetal bovine serum, 20% oxygen, M-CSF, higher concentrations of cytokines, or premature exposure to IFN-γ. We believe that the new culture method will enable inquiries into the antimicrobial mechanisms of human macrophages.

Marcienne Wright, Ph.D.

Advancing Federal Biosafety and Biosecurity Policy to Strengthen Global Health Security

Biorisk management describes the practice of strengthening the biosafety, biocontainment, and biosecurity postures of research and clinical laboratories. Biosafety refers to the use of a combination of practices, safety equipment and engineering controls to prevent the transmission of laboratory pathogens to laboratory workers and to the environment. Biocontainment refers to the application of biosafety principles in high (BSL3) and maximum (BSL4) containment research laboratories. Biosecurity controls in laboratories are implemented to prevent the intentional use of pathogenic agents to compromise human, animal or agricultural health security. As a biosafety and biosecurity program analyst for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I work with multiple agencies in the federal government to develop and evaluate biorisk management policy for U.S. and international life science research programs. My office’s policy focus (or portfolio) includes the evaluation and development of federal biosafety policy for the operation and construction of high and maximum containment laboratories, the use of recombinant and synthetic DNA and the governance of dual-use research and federal Select Agent Regulations. Additionally, I conduct biorisk assessments for infectious diseases and recombinant DNA life science research projects at the university level and provide guidance for the safe use of these agents in the laboratory. I earned my BA in Biology from Williams College, my PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and completed my postdoctoral work in biosafety at the National Institutes of Health. I am now an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow supporting the mission of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Monday, January 23rd in Olin Hall

​​Groups 8-15

Jyl Matson, Ph.D.
Antimicrobial peptide resistance mechanisms of Vibrio cholerae
Anti-microbial peptides are a critical component of innate anti-bacterial immunity.  Both Gram-negative and Gram-positive microbes have mechanisms to alter their surfaces to resist killing by anti-microbial peptides.  In Vibrio cholerae, two natural epidemic biotypes, classical and El Tor, express different phenotypes with respect to sensitivity to the peptide antibiotic polymyxin B:  classical strains are very sensitive and El Tor strains are resistant.  We hypothesize that differences in surface structures of the two biotypes are responsible for differential sensitivity.  To test this and determine the genetic basis of antimicrobial peptide resistance in V. cholerae, we carried out genetic screens to identify genes associated with resistance and sensitivity to polymyxin in El Tor and classical V. cholerae, respectively.  We identified 35 transposon insertion mutants in an El Tor strain that show decreased resistance to polymyxin B.  We initially chose to characterize the role of a gene annotated as msbB in antimicrobial peptide resistance.  MsbB is predicted to be a lipid A secondary acyltransferase based on sequence similarities in other bacteria, however, its function has not been characterized in V. cholerae.  Analysis of a defined mutation in the El Tor biotype demonstrated that msbB is required for resistance to several antimicrobial peptides in addition to polymyxin B.  Additionally, El Tor strains lacking msbB have a colonization defect in infant mice compared to wild type, which may be due to their extreme sensitivity to the mouse antimicrobial peptide mCRAMP.  These data demonstrate that MsbB is required for full acylation of lipid A in El Tor strains of V. cholerae, which is necessary for resistance to antimicrobial peptides and pathogenesis of the organism.

Irene Morganstern, Ph.D.

Can feeding mechanisms in the brain influence alcohol drinking behavior?

The consumption of alcohol solution is controlled by multiple brain systems. These systems involve projections to brain areas involved in reward, impulse control and more recently feeding behavior. The hypothalamus is a brain structure which is responsible for tightly regulating many homeostatic functions including feeding and energy balance. Current work in our laboratory, using rat models, has demonstrated that specific signaling molecules, known as neuropeptides, in this brain region can positively influence alcohol consumption. The current talk will focus on two specific neuropeptides, the orexigenic peptide, Orexin, and the opioid peptide, Enkephalin. These peptides, aside from having an important role in feeding behavior, specifically with palatable fat-rich foods, have been recently implicated in the excessive consumption of alcohol.

Joshua Payne, Ph.D.

Social contagion
 
How does an arcane song rise from obscurity to become a mainstream hit? How do unknown, low-budget videos become viral? In this talk, we will discuss a class of models designed to address these questions, and investigate how the structure of social networks affects the propagation of such contagion. In particular, we will consider the influence of mixing patterns (i.e., the propensity with which individuals of similar connectivity interact with one another) on the possibility, probability, and eventual size of an outbreak. In addition, we will consider the ability of a single individual to trigger an outbreak, as a function of their connectivity.

Alix Purdy, Ph.D.

Using genetics to understand interactions between the cholera pathogen and environmental hosts

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people are infected with the diarrheal disease cholera, most commonly in areas of the world where there is little access to adequate sanitation facilities or clean drinking water.  Vibrio cholerae, the Gram-negative bacterium that causes cholera, is not restricted to the human host and is readily found in estuaries, ponds, and oceans.  It is frequently attached to diverse organisms in these environments, which may play a role in the spread of cholera pandemics and the establishment of cholera as an endemic disease.  My research focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms used by V. cholerae to interact with diverse eukaryotic organisms in aquatic and terrestrial environments.  For this, we use a Drosophila model of V. cholerae infection.  We recently demonstrated for the first time that V. cholerae makes an exopolysaccharide biofilm within a specific compartment of the Drosophila gastrointestinal tract.  V. cholerae is also virulent towards flies, and one area of future research will focus on recently discovered regulators of virulence, with the goal of determining effector proteins produced by V. cholerae during Drosophila pathogenesis. This research reveals the genetic basis of environmentally relevant interactions with arthropods, and it provides insights into the evolution of V. cholerae virulence towards eukaryotic species.  

John Martinko, Ph.D.

Protein engineering immobilizes antigens for immune recognition

MHC I is a protein responsible for presentation of foreign peptide antigens to immune T lymphocytes. The protein consists of two subunits that cooperate to bind peptide antigens using non-covalent forces. Here we show that the MHC I subunits and the peptide antigen can be connected covalently and then further stabilized by introducing disulfide bonds to fix the peptide in the MHC I binding groove. The engineered construct, called a single chain trimer (SCT) with a disulfide trap, is recognized by antibodies and T cells specific for the peptide-MHC I complex.  The construct promises to be useful for the development of DNA vaccines and T-cell diagnostic tools.

Marc Dobenecker, Ph.D.

How to distinguish between foreign and self?

The immune system has a vast arsenal of weapons at its disposal with which it can fight invading organisms.  These weapons are extremely powerful and are able to obliterate armies of parasites, bacteria and viruses. A fundamental problem for the immune system is the distinction between foreign and self. The arsenal should be used without mercy against pathogens but under no circumstances against the host cells. So, how does the immune system distinguish between foreign and self? T cells play a major role in the decision when it is okay and even necessary to attack and when not. I’m going to talk about this decision process and how it is controlled.

Kathryn Elliot, Ph.D.

Strength in numbers:  Gene amplification in Acinetobacter

Gene amplification, the presence of multiple copies of a region of DNA, occurs in all organisms. This class of mutations contributes to antibiotic resistance in bacteria, to the development of cancer in humans, and to the evolution of novel genes. Despite their importance, gene amplifications have proven difficult to study due to their inherent instability. My studies use the non-pathogenic soil bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi as a model system to study gene amplification. In this system, we can stabilize gene amplification mutants allowing us to examine a large number of these mutations. We characterized 49 gene amplification mutants that occurred at five different positions in the A. baylyi genome. These mutants demonstrate tremendous genetic flexibility, with 30% carrying extraneous sequences that accounted for more than a quarter of their genomic DNA. Additionally, the features of these mutants, specifically the size of the amplified DNA segment and the number of copies of that segment, varied significantly at different positions in the genome. These findings highlight the complex contributions of genomic context to the nature of gene amplification events.

Kimberley Seed, Ph.D.

High frequency phase variation of the O1-antigen of Vibrio cholerae

Cholera is a substantial health burden worldwide and is endemic in many parts of South Asia, Africa, South America, and Central America. Cholera epidemics can occur both in areas where cholera is endemic and areas where it is not endemic; the current outbreak in Haiti, a country that has not seen the disease in over a century, highlights the ongoing vulnerability of underdeveloped and tragedy-struck nations to explosive disease. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a prominent constituent of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria. The LPS molecule is divided into 3 components: lipid A, core oligosaccharide and O-specific polysaccharide (or O-antigen). The distal location of the O-antigen extending outward from the bacterial surface positions it at the interface between the bacterium and its environment. As such, the O-antigen is important for protection from various environmental stresses including antibiotics and the host immune response. The O-antigen is also consequently the target of both the immune system and bacteriophages, which can independently apply powerful selective forces. My current research explores the variability of the O1-antigen of V. cholerae, and has identified multiple phase variable loci that are thought to offer a preemptive strategy to increase diversity necessary for bacterial adaptation in unpredictable environments.

Terry Fang, Ph.D.

Epigenetics and the immune response against viruses

Effective anti-viral immunity depends on the ability of infected cells or cells triggered with virus-derived nucleic acids to produce a key factor, type I interferon (IFN), which activates transcription of numerous antiviral genes. However, disproportionately strong or chronic IFN expression is a common cause of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. My work describes an epigenetic mechanism that determines cell-type specific differences in IFN gene expression in response to exogenous signals.

Amy Savage, Ph.D.

A shot of caffeine: Preventing Africa’s long sleep

Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of the fatal disease Human African

Trypanosomiasis (HAT) or Sleeping Sickness.  Further, T. brucei contributes to an economically important disease of livestock known as nagana, and is considered a major impediment to the economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly, this protozoan parasite undergoes many developmental steps as it cycles between the fly and the mammalian hosts. The final and perhaps most important parasite developmental process in the fly, metacyclogenesis, occurs in the salivary glands.  Here, parasites gain the ability to survive in the mammalian host.  Metacyclic parasites, injected with saliva, are appealing targets for novel transmission blocking strategies in the mammal.  But, no artificial culture systems exist for this stage.  Instead, these parasites must be raised in the tsetse fly.   By developing a fly-to-mouse model that closely mimics natural transmission, I am now able to describe and characterize metacyclic parasites during the transition from fly saliva to mammalian blood and tissue.  During this talk, I will use a novel metacyclic surface antigen that I have discovered and identified to illustrate the potential for metacyclic antigens as vaccine targets.

Katherine Seip-Cammack, Ph.D.

Sex, drugs and everyday choices: Understanding motivation-related neurobiology

Our world is full of choices and we are motivated to seek out and choose between a wide variety of natural stimuli (e.g., food, sex) that are adaptive to our survival and function as individuals and as a species. Drugs of abuse are thought to “hijack” brain circuits involved in motivation and choice behavior and compromise these naturally motivated behaviors. However, it is still unclear how repeated exposure to drugs (e.g., heroin, cocaine) alter these brain circuits and how these changes contribute to the likelihood that an individual will relapse to drug-taking behavior. My research explores neurobiological and environment factors that may contribute to the likelihood that an individual who is exposed to heroin, a potent and highly addicting opiate analgesic drug, will progress to dependence and addiction. During this talk, I will describe recent studies that have focused on understanding how certain neurobiological changes persist over time in drug-abstinent individuals, long after heroin use has ended and withdrawal signs are no longer present, and discuss how these changes might be reduced or eliminated with new pharmacotherapies.

Michael Taveirne, Ph.D.

Characterizing in vivo regulatory mechanisms of Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is a major human pathogen and is a leading cause of bacterial food-derived gastroenteritis worldwide. It is estimated that there are 400-500 million cases of campylobacter-derived illness each year worldwide with an estimated 2.4 million cases each year in the U.S.  Preventative measures that limit human exposure from contaminated poultry have been the focus of much research, with major attention invested on identifying genes required for colonization. In order to survive in different environments, this bacterium must regulate gene expression depending on different factors including nutrients, temperature and oxygen availability. I am utilizing high throughput sequencing and bioinformatic methods for studying gene regulation during the course of colonization of chickens to identify new mechanisms of regulation.  By identifying new transcription factors and genes involved in colonization, new targets can be developed to prevent colonization of chickens and prevent spread of this human pathogen into the food supply.

Emily Hood

Cancer’s CINful chromosomes

One of the most striking features of cancer cells is the presence of chromosomal abnormalities. Aneuploidy, an abnormal number of chromosomes, is found in most solid tumors and half of all leukemias and lymphomas. Aneuploidy is caused by an underlying erosion of mitotic fidelity called chromosomal instability (CIN), which is defined as a persistently high rate of loss and gain of whole chromosomes. Aneuploidy and CIN are associated with poor patient prognosis, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapeutics. The most common cause of CIN is improper attachment between chromosomes and the microtubules of the spindle during mitosis, resulting in errors in chromosome segregation. Our lab has shown that a key player in the correction of these attachment errors is the microtubule depolymerase Kif2b. Kif2b is present in very small quantities in cells and is active for only a very short period in early mitosis, and yet in the absence of Kif2b the rate of chromosome missegregation dramatically increases. How this spatially and temporally specific Kif2b activity is regulated has been largely unknown. Here I show that Kif2b is regulated through phosphorylation by the master mitotic regulator Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1). Revealing this molecular mechanism furthers our understanding of tumor cell growth and suggests future directions for discovery of cancer therapeutics.

Collene Lawhorn, Ph.D.

Exploring the region-specific effects of cocaine in the mouse brain

Cocaine addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder that consists of genetic, neurologic and environmental components. Dopamine receptors play an important role in modulating the effects of cocaine administration on drug-seeking behavior in both humans and rodents. The advent of BAC-eGFP transgenic mice that express green fluorescent protein (eGFP) provides a unique opportunity to distinguish between the different subpopulations of dopamine cells in the brain. In an effort to identify cocaine-induced alterations in dopamine receptor-expressing cells during the early stages of addiction, we asked the question, to what extent are these neurons altered by acute cocaine exposure, compared to vehicle controls.  We administered an acute binge dose of cocaine to BAC mice, designed to mimic an early stage of use by cocaine abusers. To determine cell number alterations we used multiphoton confocal microscopy to conduct unbiased stereological counts of cells in various brain regions. Compared to controls, mice administered cocaine showed alterations in cell number that varied by dopamine receptor subtype and brain region. These results suggest that an acute injection of cocaine may induce region specific effects, which may inform the development of therapeutic targets directed at the initial stages of the addiction cycle.

James Martiney, Ph.D.

Of men and malaria

Dr. Martiney will summarize his research work in the area of human malaria, a deadly infectious disease responsible for 2-3 millions deaths per year. A brief summary of the disease and parasitic life cycle will be followed by an overview of the main scientific problems currently facing malaria researchers: drug resistance, pathogenesis and vaccination.

Jessica Akey, Ph.D.

The role of health communicators

Dr. Akey will introduce her field of study, Health Communication, and explain how health communicators provide a link between scientific research and the general public. She will also introduce the concept of stigma accompanying infectious diseases and discuss how social scientists use theory, and the results of surveys and experiments, to persuade individuals to change their health behaviors.

As a new addition to the Citizen Science academic program, faculty give 20-30 minute short talks to students about the work that they do when they are away from Citizen Science (and often Bard- as many of the faculty come from Bard from all over the world!)

Here are abstracts of the talks given by each of the faculty in this very exciting program!

Andrea Corcoran, Ph.D.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: The serotonin hypothesis

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death in infants.  Examination of brainstems from SIDS cases show abnormalities in one of the brain’s messaging systems: the serotonin system, which is involved in breathing, temperature and heart rate control as well as responding to low oxygen (implicated in SIDS deaths). We use animal models to further understand the role of serotonin in responding to low oxygen: a transgenic mouse with little to no serotonin, a genetic mouse where we can “switch off” serotonin cells with a simple injection, and rat pups born to mothers fed a poor diet (resulting in lower serotonin levels). We explore the effects of different levels of oxygen on breathing and heart rate, and how this changes with early development. These experiments provide further physiological evidence for the link between serotonin malfunction and hypoxia (a likely exogenous stressor in SIDS cases), as well as potential identifiable risk factors and possible therapies.

Matthew Deady, Ph.D.

Measuring Planck’s Constant

Planck’s Constant, h, is one of the fundamental constants of nature, giving the basic unit of quantization of all particle/wave behavior.  h shows up in all quantum systems, from the spins of fundamental particles to the inescapable Heisenberg Uncertainty of simultaneous measurements.  A common experiment done by physics students is the determination of h from measurements of the photoelectric effect, a phenomenon that Einstein (1905) successfully explained by invoking a quantum hypothesis.  For a variety of reasons, this experiment is less than ideal.  As a Bard Senior Project, I am working with Andrew Hoffman-Patalona to develop an alternative measurement of h using Light Emitting Diodes of different colors.  In this talk, I will explain the limitations of the traditional experiment, and our plan for using LEDs to give a better result.

Stephanie Stockwell, Ph.D.

Stuck in the middle—lessons from Bradyrhizobium infection mutants

Bradyrhizobium japonicum is a Gram-negative bacterial symbiont of soybean.  Exploitation of this agriculturally significant symbiosis decreases the need for nitrogen fertilizers and enhances crop yields.  During the symbiosis, bacteria invade specialized root nodules in which they fix nitrogen for the plant.  Although the genetic requirements for the initial and final stages of an effective symbiosis are well understood, the intermediate steps of bacterial invasion and adaptation remain a mystery. Based on the importance of proper host-symbiont pairing, it is reasonable that there are a series of cues that occur throughout the infection process.  Presumably, if either the plant or the bacteria fail to perceive any of these cues, development of the symbiosis is halted.  Due to temporal, spatial, and technical restraints, it is difficult to identify signals that may occur between the organisms during the infection process.  To dissect this aspect of the molecular development of the symbiosis, I create and characterize defined bacterial mutants that are blocked in the infection process.  One of these key mutants, lacking the outer membrane receptor protein, FegA, will be described in detail during this talk.  Work towards understanding the infection process, via this mutant, facilitates the design of infection-efficient bacterial strains engineered for seed inoculation.

Hello First-Years!
The Citizen Science Fellows have been working hard at Barringer House to arrange an exciting array of civic engagement opportunities for you during Citizen Science. We’re thrilled to announce that there are now several local schools and volunteer groups who have enthusiastically expressed their desire for you to come and contribute to their work. That means that you all will be able to inspire and delight local youngsters with the wonders of science, help provide a safe refuge for rescued animals, nurture the local ecosystem, promote efforts to bring medical care to people in urgent need, or contribute to various other causes championed by the organizations collaborating with us this winter. Check out the list below. Impressive, ay?
To let you know more about the way civic engagement will be incorporated into your Citizen Science experience, the Fellows will be visiting all of the first-year residence halls over the next few weeks. We’ll also use this visit to help you plan for Civic Engagement Day – the one day during Citizen Science on which everyone is going to get involved in some volunteer activity. Please attend our visit so that we can get to know each other, think ahead a little bit, and, of course, have some fun. There will be candy.
Cheers,
Ian

Volunteer Organizations
A Horse Connection
Bard Leprosy Relief Project
Bard Science Outreach
Big Brother Big Sister
Boy Scout
Brookmeade
Girl Scouts, Heart of the Hudson
Hudson River Maritime
Hudsonia
Math Circle
Medical Reserve Corps of Dutchess County
Queens Galley
Red Hook Community Garden
Red Hook Library
ReStore
Ulster Corps
Ulster County Habitat for Humanity
Ulster County SPCA
Woodstock Animal Sanctuary

Schools that are Collaborating with Us
Abigail Lundquist Botstein Nursery School
Germantown HS
Pine Plains Elementary
Red Hook Elementary
Rhinebeck Middle School
Woodstock Day School

We, the Citizen Science Fellows, hope that all of you have enjoyed your semester thus far and are making new friends and learning all about The Republic! If you don’t know us yet, the Citizen Science Fellows are a group of students working with Brooke Jude (Citizen Science director), Erin Cannan (Associate Director for the Center for Civic Engagement/Dean of Student Affairs), and the Bard Center for Civic Engagement to organize activities for first-years, with special focus on activities that get Bard students to volunteer and interact with local community members.

I am sure by now you have heard all about what Citizen Science is (for more info, check out http://citizenscience.bard.edu/). However, Civic Engagement is also a crucial component of this program. So what is civic engagement and why should you care? Bard is truly unique. Unlike other big name institutions, Bard actually goes all out to help its students be free thinkers, science-literate young adults, and civically engaged students. When you are reading the NY Times at Kline this morning, you might have thought about ways you can change the world as you read about the GOP debate, the Middle East, or the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Civic engagement lets you do this! We want you to be engaged with your community! But before you can be the next Obama or Mother Teresa, you need to start somewhere small first. After all, global is local. You might have seen us tabling in Campus Center about local internship opportunities. If you missed out on that, it is not too late because I want to tell you about several upcoming opportunities.

Volunteer Fair: Tuesday, September 27th, 5-7pm, Red Hook High School Cafeteria
There will be a volunteer fair for you to get involved with throughout the semester! Organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Habitat for Humanity, Red Hook Community Garden, Community Arts Network, and many many more will be there!! There will be special shuttles going there every 15 minutes from the Kline bus stop, so you can’t go “O… I don’t have a car! It’s too far!!” This is your moment to help your community!!!

Bard Science Outreach: Oct. 4th & 6th
This is a new and exciting student-run volunteer TLS project. The program aims to promote general natural science education among middle school and high school students in the Hudson Valley region. These people have worked really hard, and they are bringing 8th graders from Linden Avenue Middle School to Bard College! It’s a field trip for them, and hopefully it will inspire these eager young minds to become the next Nobel Laureates. Volunteers needed!!!

They will also have other opportunities throughout the semester, so keep an eye out! For more information, please contact Madison Fletcher (mf544@bard.edu) or Yi Liu (yl9912@bard.edu).

We will be posting on this blog regularly about upcoming opportunities and recent news, so follow us and get your friends on this too!