Program Faculty

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Evguenia Alechine

Evguenia Alechine holds a degree in biochemistry, a master in biomedical science and a PhD in human genetics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 2015, she is actively working in the field of science communication and medical writing with particular interest in natural health and environmental sustainability and bringing scientific knowledge to a lay audience. She’s also a passionate sci communication teacher and a career coach for scientists out of academia. She’s an active member of the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), the chair of the Getting into Medical Writing group, co-editor of the Medical Writing journal, and faculty member of Homeward Bound, a year-long program for women in STEMM working towards a better leadership for a great good in pressing times of climate change.

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Nick Avossa

Nick (a.k.a. Mr. Avossa) taught a variety and levels of life science, including AP and College Biology. Nick is also a member of the SUNY Ulster Collegian Program. Over the years he has conducted ecological expeditions with his students to Belize and Costa Rica, as well as numerous local sites. In addition to his work in science education, Nick directed numerous musicals, worked with the Kingston Marching Band as their drill designer, was drum major for Avant Garde and the Bayonne Bridgemen drum corps and has been a long time DCA announcer. Nick retired from Kingston HS in June, 2020. He currently resides in Florida with his wife of 33 years, Carol.

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Ryan Bates

Ryan first got their BSc in Conservation Biology and Ecology from Exeter University, Penryn. There they discovered a love for finding patterns in broad-scale data, and moved to Imperial College London to get an MRes in Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Ryan now works with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to detect and measure global patterns of extinction risk. Their goal is to help write policy and inform decisions to increase environmental protections around the world. Outside of academia, Ryan enjoys playing video games and doing fibre crafts of all varieties, as well as using these skills to run regular charity drives. They also have a growing collection of plants and a deep love of dogs.

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Eames Bennett '14

Eames joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in September 2020 to work on the Chi-Nu experiment at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. His research currently centers on making measurements of the prompt fission neutron spectra of various actinides. In addition to this, Eames has been working with Dr. Keegan Kelly to develop a next-generation highly-segmented dual neutron-gamma detector array to measure neutron scattering cross sections and angular distributions. Eames earned his PhD at Texas A&M University's Cyclotron Institute as part of the Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-based Research program. While there, he helped commission the TIARA for Texas detector array, made indirect measurements of astrophysically-relevant nuclear reactions, and helped design and build a prototype novel penning trap for use at the TAMUTRAP facility. He also holds a MS in physics from Texas A&M University as well as a BA in physics from Bard College. In his spare time, Eames enjoys cycling, photography, hiking with his dog, and backpacking.

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Jennifer Blanc

Jennifer is a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, studying human population genetics. Her research focuses on developing computational methods to accurately detect natural selection on human complex traits using genomic data. She is passionate about teaching coding at all levels and has participated in a number of outreach and teaching activities over the course of her PhD. In her spare time, Jennifer loves to play beach volleyball, read for fun, and play with her friend's dogs. She is looking forward participating in the Citizen Science program this year!

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Heather Christie

She is deeply committed to academic excellence in undergraduate science education with the goal of training emerging researchers as well as informed citizens who are empowered to use science in their daily lives.  Heather passionately supports liberal arts education and scholarship having started out as a neuroscientist at Amherst College. She is fascinated by the intricate molecular and genetic signals that culminate in the formation of the vertebrate brain, a topic she explored during her PhD work at Harvard University and postdoctoral studies at the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at NYU. During her moments of free time, Heather can be found outdoors enjoying rambling gardens and hiking trails or indoors dusted with flour from her latest baking project.

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Erin Delker

Her research investigates the safety and effectiveness of exposures during pregnancy and lactation. Erin is also interested in the application of epidemiologic and causal inference methods to study effects of specific public health interventions and policies using observational data. In her future career, Erin is most excited about teaching epidemiology and biostatistical methods as well as bridging the gap between academic research and citizens with use of community based participatory research. In her free time, Erin enjoys going to the beach, hiking, and trying new restaurants around San Diego. She is very excited to be returning to the Citizen Science program this year!

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Maggie Gaddis

Maggie is a restoration ecologist and biology instructor at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs. Maggie engages citizen scientists and local land managers to investigate the ecological success of riparian forest restoration and dry land native plant re-vegetation. She is also interested in the relationship between science instruction and scientific literacy gains in non-majors biology courses and in citizen science training contexts.  This is her fourth time teaching Citizen Science, and she also taught in the Bard College Writing Knowledge program for Transfer students in August 2021.

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Jill Hauer

Her research is primarily focused on understanding the genetic and immunologic drivers of an ultra-rare kidney disease, C3 Glomerulopathy. She combines bioinformatics approaches with laboratory experiments to help identify genetic drivers of disease and develop tools which will help us more precisely diagnose and treat persons with C3 Glomerulopathy. In her free time, she loves to rock climb, explore the outdoors and read mystery novels!

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Scott Kellogg

He is the cofounder and educational director of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, an urban environmental education nonprofit in Albany, N.Y., that maintains a demonstration site of regenerative tools and technologies designed to teach ecological literacy to youth.  Scott’s research is centered on the idea of “urban ecosystem justice”—examining through a pedagogical lens how questions of equity, access, and justice pertain to urban ecosystems. Scott is an appointed member of Albany’s Sustainability Advisory Committee to the Common Council and the chair of its urban agriculture subcommittee. He has taught at numerous universities and has led workshops and multi-part sustainability courses nationally and internationally. Scott was also a co-founder of Austin, Texas’ Rhizome Collective, an urban sustainability education project, and worked as the director of its sustainability program from 2000-2009. He is a co-author of the book “Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-It-Ourselves Guide” (South End Press, 2008).

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Deborah Keszenman

Deborah Keszenman earned her MD from the Universidad de la Republica’s School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay. Following her curiosity and desire of exploration of new areas, at an early stage of her medical studies she joined the Biophysics Department at the Medical School and started to do research in the area of DNA damage and repair. While working as a physician and teaching Biophysics at the Medical School, Deborah earned a MS and then a PhD in Biophysics in the area of Radiation Biology from the Universidad de la Republica–PEDECIBA. Deborah worked researching and teaching Biophysics at the Universidad de la Republica for more than 30 years, beginning as an honorary lecturer. She is a research member of the Project for Development of Basic Sciences PEDECIBA, Uruguay. In 2005, Deborah and her family moved to the United States where she continued her scientific career at the Biosciences Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and in 2006 she became a Beam Line Scientist of the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). In 2015, Dr. Keszenman returned to Uruguay to join the Group of Biophysical Chemistry as Professor of Biophysics at CENUR Litoral Norte in Salto, and to be in charge of the Environmental and Medical Radiation Biology Laboratory. Her scientific research is focused towards problems of radiation biology with potential application in clinical Medicine and with impact on the human-environment interaction. Deborah has specialized in the study of genomic responses to nitro-oxidative stress induced by UV, ionizing radiation, anticarcinogenic agents and pesticides at the molecular and cellular levels. Her research group is also studying the role of natural products on protective and adaptive responses to genomic damage induced by physical and chemical agents present in the environment. Her group is actively involved in the transference of all this basic knowledge to society to empower a sustainable development. 

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Deborah Kravchuk

Deborah is the co-founder of Girls Rock STEM, an educational program for underrepresented female middle school students in the STEM Fields. She was named to the inaugural class of Master Teachers by the State of New York, is the recipient of the 2009 Science Teachers Association of New York (STANYS-SE) Earth Science Teacher of the Year, a 2015 finalist for New York State Teacher-of-the-Year. Deborah is a Regeneron STEM Teaching Fellow, National Geographic Certified Educator and has received multiple research grants from the National Science Foundation, the College Board, the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences, the National Urban Alliance, and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. She has been an adjunct member of the Bard College MAT Faculty since 2015 as well as being an adjunct in the MAT Program at Marist College. Deborah is currently under consideration for membership to the SUNY Maritime College Council.

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Sonny Lee

After receiving his PhD in environmental science from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago Medicine. Sonny’s research has always been centered around understanding the interaction between the microbiome and its hosts, and how it is affected by the environment. His research extends from model systems in the ocean to terrestrial, and  from human gut to plants. He investigates shifts in the coral microbiome as a result of climate change, and its impact on the coral host. He is also working on understanding the human immune system and its response to diseases, and how it can be mediated by the gut microbiome. Besides coral and human, Sonny is also keen to understand the influence of severe climate changes on the interaction between the plant host and its microbiome. He uses both laboratory work to investigate the mechanistic explanation of microbe-host cross talk and bioinformatics to analyze huge OMICs datasets. Sonny is always eager to share his experience and knowledge with others, and enjoys the opportunity to make science more approachable. During his free time you can find Sonny scuba diving and discovering the wonders of the underwater world, or trail running in the woods.

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Andrea Lund

She is focused on integrating genomic and epidemiologic data to understand the transmission of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic disease. Andrea completed a PhD in environment and resources at Stanford, an MPH in global epidemiology at Emory University’s School of Public Health and a BA in biology and Spanish at the University of Minnesota, Morris. In addition to her current postdoctoral work, Andrea has also studied schistosomiasis in West Africa, West Nile virus in urban Atlanta and cholera in the Dominican Republic.

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Jennifer Manganello

Jen is a Professor at the University at Albany School of Public Health. She is a health communication scholar who uses theories, concepts, and methods from the fields of public health and communication. Her main area of expertise is health communication. Jen’s work in this area has primarily focused on the effects of media and/or technology use on health attitudes, knowledge, and behavior, health information seeking among youth and parents, and identifying best practices for the dissemination of health information to the general public, including through news and social media. This includes how to best develop messages about research, data, and science. She also studies health literacy, media literacy, and science literacy, and examine the use of digital technology for health information and health interventions, also known as eHealth. Before starting at UAlbany, Jen was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania. She earned my Ph.D. from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  

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Ryan McClure

Ryan is a Postdoctoral Researcher that develops real-time forecasts of lake and reservoir water quality. Ryan's background is in freshwater biogeochemistry and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions in drinking water reservoirs. His current work is aiming to co-develop forecasting workflows of lake processes in lakes around the world. He recently held a postdoctoral position at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY and is now at Washington State University in Pullman, WA.

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Alexandria Oviatt

After drawing countless sugars in chair conformation, crafting a periodic table song, and muddling her way through plant biology, Alexandria earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from Barnard College in New York City. She is now a Chemical Biology graduate student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Her research interests lie in the field of antibacterial resistance. She studies bacterial enzymes that act as DNA scissors and how antibacterial compounds affect their function. When not in the research lab, Alexandria can be found in her kitchen-turned-bakery covering everything in a fine layer of flour while experimenting with sourdough. She also enjoys playing with (read: wrangling) her dog Bernoulli, accomplishing feats of world domination while playing Risk, or getting uncomfortably close to ledges on hikes.

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Haley Ramsey

Haley received her B.Sc. from the University of Tennessee, a M.Sc. from the Science Academy of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and her Ph.D. from the Medical University of Vienna, where she was credited with creating the first murine model of alloreactive mismatch T memory cells for use in bone marrow, heart, and skin transplantation studies. Prior to joining the Savona Lab in 2015, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. She is currently designs pre-clinical studies for novel therapies in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and effects of therapy on tumor metabolism.


 

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Edwin Reyes

Edwin's focus is on consulting, software, and technology that provides services for clients in private equity, healthcare, and technology. He leverages his biomedical background to help clients solve their healthcare/life science related business problems. His experience spans three broad areas of biomedical research: (1) Basic (2) Translation (3) Computation. Edwin's basic and translational focus strives to better understand the relationship between cancer and the immune system, while his computational emphasis is on digital health, studying how social media can be used to provide access and awareness to clinical trials for people with diseases such as cancer.  Edwin graduated from California State University, East Bay with a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology, completed a Post-Baccalaureate at the Mayo Clinic, earned a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago, and obtained a Post-Doctoral Master of Biomedical Informatics from Harvard Medical School.
His favorite pastime is partner dancing and cycling.

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Emily Royse

As a discipline-based education researcher, Emily is perpetually curious about why, when, and how people identify as science people. Having a science identity can be an asset to learning and persisting in science, and so she aims to support science identity development in her classrooms as both a researcher and an educator. Her Ph.D. work examined undergraduate anatomy and physiology courses, students’ experiences in those courses, and evidence-based teaching practices to support learning in this context.

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Marta Shocket ’09

Marta earned her PhD in ecology, evolution, and behavior from Indiana University, and completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University and UCLA. Her research explores how temperature and other environmental drivers affect disease transmission, combining field observations, lab experiments, and mathematical modeling. Her PhD focused on a fungal pathogen that infects Daphnia zooplankton in Midwestern lakes, while her postdoctoral work focuses on mosquito-borne pathogens that infect humans across the globe. She is also interested in science communication and art. While in graduate school, she co-organized a monthly Science Cafe, and commissioned a dramatic digital drawing inspired by the lab’s research. Aside from research, Marta loves reading SciFi and watching popular TV shows several years after everyone else.

 

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Abbie Stevens '11

Abbie is an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, and an astronomy instructor in the MSU Integrative Studies in General Science program. She researches black holes and neutron stars by looking at X-ray light coming from stars they're eating. Abbie did her PhD research on analysis of rapid variability from X-ray binaries, her MSc research on optimization algorithms for probing neutron star interiors, and her Bard Senior Project on mathematical modeling of spacetime around black holes. Alongside this research, Abbie is involved in X-ray space telescopes, public speaking and science advising on creative projects, open-source software development, astronomy data science, and mental health initiatives in academia. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, gardening, traveling, reading, and drinking tea.

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Holly Swain Ewald

Holly's research interests include neuroscience, microbiology, evolution, and behavior. Her research is focused on host-pathogen interactions and includes infectious diseases, cancer, and the microbiome. She is particularly interested in questions of health inequity and the role of science education in helping individuals shape their own interests and impact policy.

 

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Robert Todd

Rob obtained his B.S. in Biology from Iowa State University and a M.S. in Integrated Biology from the University of Iowa. He earned his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from Creighton University in 2020 and went on to complete a postdoctoral position at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus. On the micro-scale, his research focuses on genome instability and adaptation in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. However, he is generally interested in how organisms adapt to both acute and chronic environmental stresses. Beyond typical laboratory research, he is keenly interested in developing curricula and outreach opportunities that increase (and support) diversity and representation in science. Rob has worked as a Citizen Science faculty member at Bard since 2020 and is beyond thrilled to continue working with all of the talented and passionate students, staff, and faculty at Bard.

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Renata van der Weijden

Renata van der Weijden is an aqueous biogeochemist with a Masters and PhD from Utrecht University. She has several years of experience working and studying at Universities and colleges in the USA on water related topics. Currently she teaches earth science and laboratory courses at University College Roosevelt which has an exchange program with Bard College. In addition, she supervises PhD students at Wetsus (www.wetsus.nl) and Wageningen University and Research (www.wur.nl). Outside her professional work, she is involved in a citizen science project (ww.drinkablerivers.org) and her other connection with water is that she loves swimming and ice-skating.

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Kellie Vinal

Her dissertation work focused on the molecular recognition and modification mechanisms of the 30S ribosome by the pathogen-derived, aminoglycoside-resistance rRNA methyltransferase NpmA. As a freelance science communicator, Kellie has organized conferences (including the inaugural ComSciCon ATL), co-created/co-hosted the Womxn In STEMtertainment podcast, designed science experiences for the general public with Science ATL, taught K-12 students with mobile makerspace STE(A)M Truck, managed social media strategy for CDC-funded SelfMade Health Network, taught workshops and produced storytelling shows with The Story Collider, created/hosted the Wondercast YouTube series, and consulted in developing K-12 outreach strategy for CDC Office of the Associate Director for Communication. In her “spare” time, she finds creative, silly ways to explore nuance, movement, and empathy. And microbes.

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Nykia Walker

Nyki earned her bachelor’s degree in cell biology, immunology, and infectious diseases from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to starting graduate school, she worked at Merck and Co. Research Laboratories in the biomarker discoveries group.  Her PhD focused on stem cell and cancer biology and is from Rutgers University. As a graduate student, she was a member of the stem cell education society, where they sponsored bone marrow drives and educational seminars to teach the public about stem cells. Nyki recently completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago where she studied the cellular signaling cascades between breast cancer cells and macrophages through the release of secreted factors like exosomes. Nyki's overall goal is to stand up to cancer by developing novel cell-based approaches to prevent breast cancer metastasis. Besides research, Nyki loves estate sales, music, dancing, laughing, and teaching. From September to February, you can find her every Sunday afternoon cheering for her beloved 2017 Super Bowl Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to the pandemic, she rescued a 3-year-old schnoodle (schnauzer and poodle mix) named King George. King George loves running, sleeping and ice cream which has been fun during the pandemic so that Nyki can still get out and practice social distancing while chatting with people along their walk.

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Emily White

Emily received her B.S. in Chemistry and Environmental Studies from Tufts University, her M.S. in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. While at SUNY-ESF, she received a NASA Earth System Science fellowship to investigate estuarine biogeochemistry and carbon cycling. Emily has participated in several oceanographic research cruises and spent a month on an Antarctic icebreaker. As a postdoctoral scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Emily studied recreational beach water quality. Before coming to Bard, she taught introductory and environmental chemistry at Sewanee: The University of the South and conducted research on the occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in treated wastewater. At Bard, Emily has taught courses on drinking water treatment, methods of environmental analysis, environmental monitoring, climate change, and introductory chemistry. She is involved in efforts to monitor water quality in the Saw Kill and is working with the Office of Sustainability on the Annandale Dam Micro-Hydropower Project. 

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Signe White

Signe is completing a postdoctoral research position at UC San Diego in the Division of Biological Sciences, Section in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. Her work focuses on understanding how the microbiomes of single-celled marine algae (yes, they have microbiomes!) help the algae adapt to increasing ocean temperatures. During her PhD work at Emory, she looked at how host genetic diversity shapes the ability of pathogens to adapt to host populations. Signe also has interests in advocating for evidence-based policy, and in particular, policies protecting natural resources from human exploitation, including those promoting clean water and sustainable agriculture. When Signe's not in lab, she enjoys cycling, trail running, cross-stitching, and hanging out with her cat, Jeni (named after Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams).

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Francis Windram

Francis is a PhD Student at Imperial College London, working in computational theoretical ecology and arachnology. He received his BSc in Zoology from Leeds University and his MSc in Computational Methods in Ecology & Evolution from Imperial. Francis' research is focused around using quantitative methods to evaluate the trade-offs involved in spider foraging, with a particular focus on spider web structure. He is also involved in teaching science and computing at a range of levels both for Imperial and for the British Ecological Society. Francis is an avid climber and musician in his free time, and enjoys recording and producing music and podcasts.

 

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Deborah Zucker

As a primary-care physician she has worked to promote health and wellness through preventive care, evidence-based practice and patient education. As a researcher, her work spans the basic (microbiology and molecular/human genetics), clinical, and health services/policy research spectrum. Her research addresses varied topics such as : bacterial pathogenesis; evidence-based medicine; research-trial design; gender, genetics and cardiovascular disease; curbing antibiotic resistance; multicultural care, and influencers of research participation. Though diverse, her projects share the common goal of bridging research and practice. For example, she developed and implemented a novel practice-based research approach that combines single-patient (N-of-1) trials to assess population comparative-effectiveness while also aiding individual-patient decision-making. This design uses research for practice and practice(s) for research. Deborah also enjoys teaching and has practical experience in bioethics and health-policy. Through training (e.g., teaching courses/workshops; grant development and review), legislative work (e.g., working with a US Senate committee staff on health and research issues) and advocacy activities (e.g., in leadership of a professional organization; as a research-subject advocate) , she has been involved in bringing science to policy, and working to foster research and researchers. As a member of the Citizen Science policy-strand, she looks forward to stimulating interest and exploration into the many ways that science and policy connect.