While Vassar has graduates at the highest levels of science research and policy (Vassar graduate Bernadine Healy was the first woman to head the National Institutes of Health, for example), the college isn’t usually perceived as “the place to study science.” To counteract this misperception, the college used the 20th anniversary of the Undergraduate Research Summer Institute in 2005 as an opportunity to showcase science at Vassar.
We designed and implemented an online survey of URSI graduates since 1986 and also interviewed URSI graduates now working in a wide range of fields—education, research, medicine, law, and industry. We used the interviews and the survey results to create content for a media pitch, an issue of Vassar Views, and the URSI website.