Alanna Costelloe-Kuehn '08

As a junior, Alanna Costelloe-Kuehn of East Greenbush, New York, was one of the first students to participate in the Bard-Rockefeller Semester in Science (BRSS). Part of Bard College’s ongoing partnership with the internationally respected Rockefeller University BRSS is a one-semester program in New York City designed for advanced science students, particularly those in the fields of neuroscience, biochemistry, molecular biology, developmental biology, biophysics, and genetics.

Costelloe-Kuehn worked in the neurobiology and behavior laboratory of Rockefeller Professor Donald W. Pfaff. She assisted with research studying neurons thought to be in charge of the “general arousal” to stimuli that is necessary before any motor or emotional reaction can be activated. She took part in a project that sought to identify the “master cells” in the lower brain stem. “These neurons are thought to be responsible for general arousal and are uniquely connected to both the midbrain and the spinal cord,” she explained. By injecting dyes into both of these regions, researchers can identify the master cells by their double labeling. Working with mice and rats, Costelloe-Kuehn performed the surgeries necessary for the dye injection and two weeks later dissected brains and spinal cords, looking for double-labeled cells in the brain.

Costelloe-Kuehn valued the chance to work with professional research scientists. “As a student, I appreciate the teaching strengths of the Bard faculty,” she said, “but seeing the world I would enter if I went into research as a career is also an important experience.”

In addition to working in the laboratory, BRSS students take specially designed courses at Rockefeller and in the Bard Globalization and International Affairs (BGIA) Program. At BGIA, Costello-Kuehn took Issues in Global Public Health, a course she found crucial. “If I hadn't been in New York City that semester, I would probably have commuted once a week for that class,” she said. “It was a unique opportunity to learn from women who are working internationally in public health fields.”