about the science initiative

Bard College has undertaken a major initiative to strengthen its science curriculum. The initiative was presented to the Board of Trustees of the College in October of 1999, in a report entitled Science at Bard.

The Bard College Science Initiative is the result of this report. The Science Initiative is a program of curricular innovation, faculty hiring, external programs, and facilities construction aimed at achieving three goals at Bard and Simon's Rock College of Bard: to increase the number of science majors; to improve the level of science literacy throughout the college; and to assume a leadership role in the national effort to improve secondary school science teaching.

The College has been assisted in the initiative by a panel of distinguished scientists:

  • Stanley Prusiner, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco
  • David Botstein, professor and chair of genetics at Stanford University
  • George Rose (Bard class of '63), professor of biophysics at Johns Hopkins University
  • John Ross, professor of chemistry at Stanford University
  • Terry Gaasterland, Assistant Professor of Computational Genomics, Rockefeller University
  • Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate in Biology and President of Sloan Kettering Institute
  • Arnold Levine, Faculty, Rockefeller University

A major component of the science initiative is the Bard-Rockefeller Program. Through this collaboration, Bard undergraduates gain access to the New York City laboratories of Rockefeller University, one of the world's leading biomedical institutions.

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Distinguished Scientist Scholars Program (DSS)
Each year 10 to 20 four-year scholarships up to full tuition are available for students who are committed to majoring in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, or mathematics. Recipients of the scholarships also may receive a $1,500 stipend for summer research projects following their sophomore and junior years.

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