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Mud, rats and brains: Bronx students get a taste of science at Connecticut College

September 26, 2008

Talk about hands-on.

Five minutes after meeting Anne Bernhard, assistant professor of biology, a group of juniors visiting Connecticut College from DeWitt Clinton High School in Bronx, N.Y., were up to their elbows in mud from the college's Arboretum.

"Roll your sleeves up," Bernhard said.

This month, 40 DeWitt Clinton students came to campus to see what studying science at Connecticut College is all about, and to learn about the college's Science Leaders Program. The program, funded by a National Science Foundation grant, is designed to increase the number of women and minority students graduating from Connecticut College with a degree in science. As part of the program, students receive financial support, money for books, mentoring, career preparation, counseling and assistance with graduate school applications.

During the students' visit to Connecticut College, Professors Bernhard, Marc Zimmer, Stanton Ching, Deborah Eastman and Joseph Schroeder each gave the students a taste of the sciences.

For her part, Bernhard showed the students how to create Winogradsky Columns by dumping mud, egg yolk, egg shell, newspaper and water into clear plastic bottles.

"There are a lot of bacteria that live in the mud that are photosynthetic. What does that mean?" she said. "It means they use the sunlight to make their food."

When the Winogradsky Columns are placed in sunlight, the healthy bacteria that live in the Arboretum's mud will grow into a rainbow of colors, Bernhard said.

"The darker and stinkier the mud, the better," Bernhard said, as students took turns dipping their hands into a bucket of mud.

In Schroeder's neurobehavioral science lab, students handled rats used to test the effects of drugs on behavior.

"These rats are bred for years and years to be similar," said Schroeder. "These guys are essentially like identical twins."

One device, called "a conditioned place preference box," is two rat-sized rooms - one striped and one white - with an open door between. To test whether or not a drug is addictive, Schroeder said, a rat will be given a drug in the striped room and given a placebo in the white room. If, in time, the rat prefers the striped room over the white room, that drug is likely addictive.

In all, 80 DeWitt Clinton students visited the college last week as part of Connecticut College's high school partnership program.

"Partnering allows Connecticut College to work with high schools with significant numbers of under-represented students in order to introduce the college to students who might not otherwise know about or have access to our type of institution," said Martha Merrill, dean of admission and financial aid.

Partnership schools receive workshops at their school and at the college and, in turn, Connecticut College is introduced to their best and brightest students.

"In the end, both the high school and the college benefit," said Merrill.

For media inquiries contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu