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 MC Escher). Curiosity and interest in chemistry are prerequisites, 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.
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.
Intro to Neuroscience
Instructor: Ari Schecter
This course will introduce and explore core concepts related to neuroscience, with an emphasis on psychobiology (or biological psychology), namely the biological basis of mental states and behavior. Topics will include nerve cells and impulses, synaptic transmission, hormone/endocrine signaling, neuroanatomy, sensation and perception, regulation of sleep and wake states, physiologic homeostasis, emotion, learning/memory, neurocognition, and psychological disorders.
Finding Climate Solutions
Instructor: Jonathan Lambert
In this course, we will explore a wide array of climate change solutions - from the natural and traditional to the ultramodern and technological. Through this exploration, we will cover concepts across all earth and environmental science and provide an overview of topics that you may want to dive more deeply into in future courses and/or projects. We will begin with an introduction to climate change and follow this with three modules on terrestrial, ocean-based, and engineering solutions. You will engage in group and class-wide discussion – specifically on solutions that spark your curiosity so that you take responsibility in course direction and engage intentionally, critically, and freely.
Instructor: Abigail Zadina
Scientific discoveries don’t happen in a classroom—they happen in the lab! In this immersive neuroscience course, students will explore the nervous system through short lectures, interactive discussions, and hands-on lab activities, investigating how neurons communicate and influence behavior. In the first week, students will examine preserved brain tissue to study functional neuroanatomy in relation to real clinical cases of brain injury. In the second week, they will learn about neural communication and record electrical signals from neurons in an earthworm. The final week will explore the relationship between brain signals and behavior. Students will use electroencephalography (EEG) to record their own brain waves and analyze how neural activity shifts during cognitive tasks. To complement these lessons, students will visit cutting-edge neuroscience research facilities and NYC landmarks such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo. By the end of the course, students will have a foundational understanding of neuroscience and firsthand experience with experimental techniques used by scientists to study the brain.
Instructor: Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch
In NYC Nature: From the River to the Rooftops, students will collect and analyze data from local habitats on and near the Barnard campus including the Hudson River, Riverside Park forest and the wildflower meadows planted on top of Barnard College buildings. Students will examine the water quality of the Hudson, measure carbon storage in campus trees, survey birds in relationship to tree canopy density in Riverside Park, simulate a paleoecological investigation of Manhattan using the Virtual Forest and quantify biodiversity on NYC rooftops. It is an investigation of how NYC nature, from plankton to peregrines, responds to environmental change, and will be hands-on, inquiry-based, include field experiences and involve data collection, analysis and presentations. Each meeting will begin with a discussion of the day's topic and then we will head outside to collect data, for example, water samples, tree measurements, plant and bird surveys, etc. Back in the lab, the data will be visualized, analyzed and discussed in the form of team presentations.
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.
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.
Ari Schecter
Intro to Neuroscience
Dr. Shechter is Associate Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health (CBCH). He received his PhD in neuroscience with a focus on human chronobiology. He then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the New YorkObesity Nutrition Research Center at Columbia University examining how sleep relates to food intake regulation, physical activity, and metabolism. Dr. Shechter’s current research focuses on how sleep and circadian rhythms relate to physical, mental, and behavioral health and disease. He is also interested in factors contributing to healthcare worker wellness, interventions for poor sleep, and the effects of light on sleep and mood.
Jonathan Lambert
Finding Climate Solutions
Jonathan (he/him) is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and was inspired to become an earth scientist by the numerous hurricanes that struck near his hometown in the early 2000s - including Hurricane Katrina. He has B.S. degrees from Louisiana State University, a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and currently works within the realms of paleoclimate (past climate) and modern climate solutions. Jonathan splits his time between consulting for nonprofits in the emerging carbon dioxide removal space and teaching at liberal arts colleges around NYC. You can learn more about Jonathan at ClimateLambert.com
Abigail Zadina
Brain Studies: A Hands-On Neuroscience Lab
Abigail Zadina is a professor at Barnard College, where she teaches courses in neuroethology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, and laboratory techniques. Her prior research has centered on the neural mechanisms underlying natural animal behaviors, utilizing diverse model systems such as Drosophila, mice, and electric fish. Through these models, she has explored a range of topics, including circadian rhythms, innate olfactory behavior, and electroreception. Abigail earned a dual B.S./M.S. in neuroscience from Brandeis University and is completing her doctoral work at Columbia University, where she was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch
NYC Nature: From the River to the Rooftops
Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Teaching Lab Director. Her research and teaching interests include paleoecology, effects of climate and land-use change on bird populations, soundscape ecology and field and digital curriculum development. Her PhD is from New York University. Terryanne won the Barnard College Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.
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
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.