Ceremony Marks Opening of New Neuroscience Lab
In 2023, Vassar alum Jayne Kurzman ’68 was having lunch in New York City with President Elizabeth Bradley. When the conversation turned to academic trends on campus, Bradley mentioned that neuroscience and behavior had become one of the most popular majors.
That rang a bell as Kurzman had recently become the President of the Denise A. and Eugene W. Chinery Foundation, a philanthropic organization devoted to research in neurological disorders that affect behavior.
Two years later, Kurzman and Bradley were standing in front of the Charisse Chinery Neuroscience Microscopy Laboratory of Olmsted Hall. Behind them in the lab were the fruits of a $1.3-million gift from the Chinery Foundation to Vassar: eight state-of-the-art scanning microscopes that will enable Vassar students and faculty to conduct neuroscience research that few colleges in the country are able to offer. $100,000 of the gift is dedicated as an endowment to maintain supplies and related needs for the lab.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the lab celebrating the gift, Kurzman explained that a member of the Chinery family, Charisse Chinery, had been born with neurological disabilities that affected her behavior, prompting her parents, the founders of the Foundation, to become interested in ways to spur research in the field. Kurzman and her co-Trustees were left with the task of finding suitable projects after the parents were gone.
“When Betsy mentioned how popular the Neuroscience and Behavior Program was, I perked right up,” Kurzman said. “That conversation led directly to this gift.”
Before Kurzman cut the ribbon in front of the lab, joined by Chinery Foundation Vice President Ernest Aponte, Bradley said the College would put the microscopes to good use. “This lab provides our faculty and students with cutting-edge microscopes and integrated computer software that puts Vassar ahead of other colleges, and we can’t thank the Foundation enough,” she said.
Faculty and students who attended the ribbon cutting said they couldn’t wait to get to work. “This lab is definitely a game-changer,” said Bojana Zupan, Associate Professor of Psychological Science and a member of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program faculty. “No other college our size has these, only major research universities.”
Hadley Bergstrom, Associate Professor of Psychological Science and also a member of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program faculty, began teaching a class in the lab the Monday after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This gift gives our students a major jump start into the kinds of research they’ll be doing in graduate school,” Bergstrom said.
Alya Bagdas ’27, a neuroscience and pre-med student from Madison, CT, said she was certain that working with these microscopes would help her in her academic career—at Vassar and beyond. “Having these microscopes on campus will be really helpful to my research here on campus and for the work I’ll be doing in med school,” Bagdas said. “My work involves identifying proteins in brain tissue, and other microscopes don’t provide the resolution I need. I will train on the use of the microscopes this spring and begin to work with them next fall.”
Maia Beaudry ’25, a member of Zupan’s neuroscience research team, said she too was grateful to have the microscopes on campus. “I will train on them this spring so I’m more prepared for graduate school in the fall,” she said. “And going forward, Vassar’s neuroscience and psychological science courses will be greatly enhanced.”