The Class of 2021 — and the entire College — are currently counting down the days until Commencement 2021 takes place on April 29. As we lead up to graduation, we are highlighting some of the most memorable moments from the past four years to celebrate our soon-to-be graduates.

Since 2015, when Barnard was named a recipient of the prestigious Beckman Scholars Program award, the College has helped elevate the research of talented STEM students who are majoring in biology, chemistry, and neuroscience and behavior. Alice Sardarian ’21 was one of the eight most recent cohort members inducted into the intensive three-year program that provides financial support for two summers and one academic year of research. A physiological and organismal biology major, Sardarian researches the underlying oral sensory processing that permits excessive consumption of an otherwise aversive substance, as a research assistant at the Glendinning neuroscience and behavior lab.

“Professor John I. Glendinning’s class Statistics & Research Design course integrated biology, clinical research, and statistics in a way that prompted me, as a first-year, to seek an active role in the lab, which helped me to become a better researcher,” said Sardarian. “Furthermore, Barnard’s Summer Research Institute (SRI) was instrumental in helping me to prepare, present, and communicate my findings to diverse audiences. It was a great opportunity to share my passion for STEM and to be one of Barnard’s proud female scientists.”

Read more from Sardarian here.