Biology Home Page

At our annual honey extraction in the fall, Professor Jon Snow guides fellow colleagues and students through the process of extracting honey from his hives atop Barnard Hall. Using a hot, copper uncapping knife, he first removes the wax caps of the cells on each hive frame where bees have stored the ripened honey. Frames are then placed in a honey extractor, which is spun in order to remove the honey by centrifugal force. Every year, majors join the faculty and staff to extract then enjoy the delicious honey, pairing it with their favorite tea, cheese, or sourdough loaf. 

Every semester, the department gathers for a short break from all of their hard work for coffee and pastries. In the spring, we toasted our graduating seniors and welcomed our newly declared sophomore majors to the Barnard Biology family on the Diana Center green roof. 

Twenty years ago, Barnard’s Arthur Ross Greenhouse was dedicated as a state-of-the-art plant growth facility for the Department of Biological Sciences. Built on the roof of Milbank Hall, it replaced the original greenhouse constructed in 1928 as a laboratory for Professor of Botany Edmund W. Sinnott, who taught at Barnard from 1928 to 1940 and performed studies on the developmental genetics of squash. Today, the 3,400 square foot greenhouse is open to the Barnard and Columbia communities and houses a conservatory, which is home to the collection that both faculty and students use for teaching and research.