Faculty and students in a lab
Professors Win NSF Grant to Support Latinx & African American STEM Students

Professors Lissette Delgado-Cruzata, Gabriel Camacho and Daryl Wout received a five-year, $500K grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a program that uses social psychology interventions, peer mentoring and faculty professional development to promote retention and graduation of Latinx and African American science majors. 

The grant is part of the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education:  Hispanic-Serving Institutions initiative, which supports projects designed to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education, increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of STEM students, broaden participation of students who are historically underrepresented in STEM and expand students’ pathways to continued STEM education and integration into the STEM workforce.

As a Hispanic-Serving and Minority-Serving Institution, nearly 50% of John Jay’s students identify as Hispanic and about 20% identify as Black. About 50% are the first in their family to go to college, 75% attended a New York City public school and 85% graduate with $0 student debt. 

John Jay invests in student success, especially for students who are members of historically underrepresented communities, through programs like:

  • The Urban Male Initiative, which supports African American and Latino males, who are underrepresented in higher education
  • MBK Connect, which offers college prep, community-building, stipend and MetroCard for men of color the summer before their first year at John Jay
  • AppleCorps, which provides a stipend, internships, service learning and professional networking for four years
  • SEEK, which provides four years of support for students who are both academically and financially disadvantaged
  • Adelante!, which introduces students to key Latinx issues and offers leadership development, career prep and financial support
  • The Pre-Law Institute, which shares opportunities like judicial internships, law school prep, LSAT prep and pre-law boot camps
  • PRISM, which prepares math and science students for success in STEM fields through hands-on research, faculty mentorship and career prep

Other recent accolades include ranking #1 in the country for criminal justice, forensic science and legal studies by University HQ,  #4 nationwide in best public colleges by Money magazine  and #7 in “best bang for the buck” by Washington Monthly.