STEMinist
STEMinist
The STEMinist track is perfect for students looking to develop their STEM skills in both lecture and laboratory settings. Explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in motion through field trips and hands-on projects. In addition to your coursework, this program begins to address some of the inequalities that women face in the STEM field and how students can begin to rewrite the narrative with their presence.
Program Structure
Classes take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Office Hours, Junior Junction and Leadership in Action Workshops will be held on Monday and Friday.
Student life activities will be held in the evenings after class.
The Curriculum
Chemical Connections and Happenings
Instructor: Christian Rojas
Transferring electrons. Making and breaking chemical bonds. These are among the atomic- and
molecular-scale happenings that we will explore in this course, combining discussions of
chemical principles with hands-on laboratory experiments. We will also take field trips to New
York City science landmarks such as the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan,
the New York Hall of Science in Queens, and the location in Brooklyn where large-scale
production of penicillin was first achieved. We will use a technique called NMR
spectroscopy—related to the MRI imaging used in medicine—to detect the hydrogen and carbon
nuclei in a variety of organic compounds and correlate this data with the atom-by-atom structure
of those molecules. We will also use hand-held models and computer software to visualize
three-dimensional molecular structures and to calculate the distribution of electrons within
molecules. Finally, we will consider connections of chemistry to philosophical, artistic, and
literary questions, such as levels of “truth” in scientific theories. We will read and discuss
selections from the chemistry-influenced literary memoirs of Primo Levi (The Periodic Table)
and Oliver Sacks (Uncle Tungsten). Our explorations will also include museum trips in New
York City to see paintings and drawings that reveal the ambiguity of visual representation (for
example, art by René Magritte and Maurice Escher). Curiosity and interest in chemistry are pre-
requisites, but no special chemistry knowledge or background is required.
Forensic Psychology
Instructor: Joshua Feinberg
This course is an examination of the interaction between fields of psychology, law, and the criminal justice system. It examines the aspects of human behavior directly related to the legal process such as eyewitness memory and testimony, jury decision making, and theories of criminal behavior. There is a strong focus on the ethical and moral tensions that inform the law.
The Exploration of Space
Instructor: Frederic Stark
This course will examine the science, technology, people, and social/economic issues surrounding human activities in space, from pre-Sputnik to Project Artemis.
Science In Your Life
Instructor: Kevin Turaczy
What do Diet Coke, solar panels, and synthetic organs have in common? They are all things that a chemical engineer can work on improving! Whether it's making batteries more efficient to electrify the nation, designing instruments for space exploration, or creating new, vegan products for skin care, chemical engineers are influential in all aspects of society. Ever wonder what's inside a vanadium flow battery? Have you heard of using gene therapy to cure cancer? Do you wish you knew a little more about microrobots that are used for water purification?
This course gives you a taste of everyday science in your life and shows you how chemical engineers are working towards solving the prevalent issues of the world. You'll become more knowledgeable about what goes into objects and processes you might normally overlook. We will show you what engineering hurdles the world faces today along with how you can get involved. Hopefully, you'll finish this course marveling at the recent advances of engineering and inspired to become an engineer!
Research and Professional Skills in STEM
Instructor: Jazlyn Nketia
This course will introduce students to concepts and methods that allow them to develop their research voice, navigate the virtual research landscape, and develop an online professional presence.
Gone Viral: Public Health in a Global Context
Instructor: Chris Alley
This course examines the rapidly evolving social, cultural, behavioral, political, and socioeconomic dimensions of public health in community, national, regional, and global contexts. We consider how health as well as the generation of knowledge about health are being continually re-shaped by factors such as age, gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, social class, geography, and interactions within physical and digital environments. We learn how to analyze dynamic public health problems and identify agile solutions by casting light on individual risk factors as well as larger structural forces. We consider how social media enables the rapid proliferation of hotly contested messages and information about the rights of the individual versus the welfare of the public. Finally, we critically examine the ways in which our understandings of health and well-being perpetually shape, and are shaped by, health care systems in flux, the mediation of our own values, and our changing assumptions about the world. "Gone Viral: Public Health in a Global Context" is an exploration of the spread of pathogens and other health threats as well as the spread of ideas and knowledge about them via social media and other platforms.
You can access a more detailed course description HERE.
The Instructors
Joshua Feinberg
Forensic Psychology
Joshua Feinberg received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Rutgers University. He is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Saint Peter's University and has also taught several courses at both Barnard College and Columbia University. Previous courses he has taught include: forensic psychology, social psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, statistics, sports psychology, and research methods. He currently conducts research on how social factors affect moral decision making. He has previously published studies focusing on both applied and theoretical topics such as social facilitation, sports psychology, academic cheating, and implicit stereotyping.
Christian Rojas
Chemical Connections and Happenings
Christian M. Rojas, Professor of Chemistry, teaches mainly introductory- and advanced-level organic chemistry courses. He is a synthetic organic chemist who conducts research to develop new methods for incorporating nitrogen atoms into organic molecules and applies those methods to the synthesis of amino sugars. Barnard undergraduate student researchers from the Rojas research group have gone on to careers in science, teaching, and medicine, including positions in the pharmaceutical industry, academia, public-school teaching, public health, and government. In addition to publishing research articles with his students, Christian was editor of the 2016 book Molecular Rearrangements in Organic Synthesis. Christian joined the Barnard faculty in 1997 after completing a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Scripps Research Institute. He earned a PhD from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia.
Kevin Turaczy
Science In Your Life: Through the Eyes of a Chemical Engineer
My research focus is on characterizing unique catalysts for hydrogen production in water electrolysis using surface science techniques. I am also interested in carbon capture technology and converting captured carbon dioxide into useful chemicals and fuels.
Jazlyn Nketia
Research and Professional Skills in STEM
Jazlyn Nketia is a Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) U.S. Federal Executive Branch Policy Fellow for the 2023-2024 fellowship year. Jazlyn graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.A. in Psychology with Minors in Philosophy and Neuroscience. Jazlyn is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and has undergraduate research experience in interpersonal relationships between adults, social cognitive development in middle childhood, and impulsivity and delay discounting in adolescence. Jazlyn completed her PhD in Cognitive Science at Brown University and completed her dissertation research at Columbia University as an IvyPlus Exchange Scholar. Broadly, her graduate research studied the role of lived experience on cognitive development, specifically working memory development in early childhood. Dr. Nketia has an interest in taking an inclusive, equitable, and interdisciplinary approach that involves taking a global perspective to developmental science. Dr. Nketia has worked on projects in the United States, Ghana, Jordan, consulted with the Katsuiku Academy in Tokyo, Japan, and is a member of the Jacobs Research Network that is based in the Netherlands.
Frederic Stark
The Exploration of Space
Ric will be retiring this June after 34 years of teaching at GW Hewlett High School on Long Island, where he most recently taught AP Physics C and a college-level course on space exploration offered through the University at Albany. He has taught in the Barnard pre-college program since 2013. Ric also applied to NASA twice to become an Astronaut Candidate, and has both rejection letters displayed proudly on his office wall.
Chris Alley
Gone Viral: Public Health in a Global Context
Chris Alley has a PhD in medical anthropology (2015, Columbia, Mailman School of Public Health). I am currently an active faculty member at the NYU School of Global Public Health. I also serve as Consultant to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR).
Bridging Curriculum and Community
We believe student life does not start and end in the classroom. Each night after class, students can participate in activities led by our residential student staff.
Community Office Hours
Each Monday, students are invited to meet with any member of our Pre-College Programs team. Office hours emphasize PCP’s open door office policy and gives students a space to meet with their instructor, Peer Academic Leader, or a professional staff member.
Technology and Academic Support
Canvas and Email Access
Barnard PCP utilizes Canvas, an online platform, where students will find their syllabus, assignments, discussion boards, and access to message their instructor or peers outside of class.
Students will also receive a PCP email to use for the duration of the program.
Our team will go over technology usage in the student manual and during Orientation.