The transition from high school to college can be daunting for many students, especially those who come from less-privileged backgrounds. One approach to supporting students through that transition is the introduction of college-level coursework (with credit) while still in high school. The Bard Early Colleges (BEC) are a unique instance of this approach in NYC, going beyond individual college courses to build a network of public high schools in which students complete high school graduation requirements by the end of sophomore year and are considered full-time undergraduate students in their 11th and 12th grades. BEC currently enrolls 1,600 NYC public school students across its four campuses in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn. Each is a public schools, governed by an agreement between Bard College and the NY Department of Education. Across the larger BEC network, 77% of high schoolers are students of color and 73% are classified by their districts as low-income; 60% are first-generation college students and, by the end of their time at BEC, roughly 80% of students receive a two-year Bard College Associate in Arts degrees, including 60 transferable Bard College credits. While the Queens and Manhattan campuses are well-established, the BEC Bronx and Brooklyn campuses are in a “startup phase,” with plans to enroll a new class of students each year until they reach full capacity by 2028. Before reaching full enrollment, these campuses rely on philanthropic support to build capacity for new initiatives that prepare students for a fulfilling and supportive college experience. Funds from this grant will  support the buildout of a new science laboratory on the Bronx campus, enabling Bard faculty in the sciences (across biology, physics and chemistry) to design and develop new biotechnology-based elective courses utilizing specialized equipment such as PCR machines, gel electrophoresis apparatus, centrifuges, micropipettes, incubators and spectrophotometers. Approximately half of grant funds will go to laboratory equipment procurement, and the other half dedicated to staffing, the design of new curriculum, and paid student research experiences.

This grant provides funding for the Scientific Research Partnerships (SRP) program, an initiative at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that seeks to offer other museums, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions access to expert scientific researchers and state-of-the-art instruments housed at The Met. The Met’s scientific activities are led by Marco Leona, the David H. Koch Scientist in Charge, who heads a small team focused on the science of art conservation. Anchored in material science and chemistry, conservation science applies contemporary imaging and analytic techniques to questions of the history of artistic practice. Research questions vary from project to project, with recent projects ranging from what might be learned from the coatings of Egyptian funerary objects to the discovery of a painted-over King Charles Cavalier Spaniel in one of Picasso’s early works.  The SRP works to build partnerships that put these scientific capabilities at the service of other institutions.  To date, the SRP network has 19 such partnerships, including with the New York Municipal Archives, the American Folk Art Museum, and the Pratt Institute. Grant funds will support one Associate Research Scientist and two Research Assistant positions, as well as maintenance fees for some of The Met’s scientific equipment. A particular focus for the next three years will be the expansion of partnerships to less-well-resourced institutions that engage with different communities across the city.