Hostos Welcomes CUNY Black Male Initiative’s Second Annual Research Symposium, Showcasing University Wide Student Scholarship

 
On a clear spring morning on May 1 in the South Bronx, students, faculty, and administrators from across the City University of New York convened at Hostos Community College’s Research Center (HRC) for the second annual Research Symposium organized by the Black Male Initiative (BMI), a CUNY-wide initiative to support the inclusion and success of underrepresented groups in higher education. The choice of Hostos as the site for the symposium reflects the College’s equity-in-action mission, which focuses on expanding access, elevating student voices, and creating pathways for historically underserved communities to thrive. In that spirit, the daylong gathering centered on student scholarship, mentorship, and the pursuit of equity across a wide range of disciplines. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students presented work spanning public health, education, immigration, labor, environmental science, and biomedical research, reflecting both the intellectual breadth of the University and the lived realities of its communities.
 
Opening remarks grounded the event in Hostos’ identity as a community-focused institution and in the Initiative’s longstanding mission to expand educational opportunity. In recorded comments, Hostos President Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis described the symposium as closely aligned with the College’s mission and history, emphasizing the importance of cultivating spaces where students can investigate questions that directly affect their communities. She framed the gathering as both an academic and communal milestone, one that affirms students as contributors to scholarship rather than passive observers.
 
Her words were followed by Dr. Katia González, Hostos Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, who said, “Creating spaces that elevate, highlight, and celebrate the work of our student scholars is paramount. It is the exchange of multiple perspectives and ideas, and the collective pursuit of excellence, that drives meaningful change.” 
   
This collective ethos was echoed by all organizers of the initiative, who highlighted the extensive collaboration behind the symposium. Lorena Villavicencio, the program chair, described it as “a labor of love,” the result of months of coordination across campuses, faculty, and staff. The goal, she explained, was “to create a very holistic and great experience for our students where research is accessible, affirming, and celebrated.” The choice of Hostos as the venue carried particular significance. Serving a predominantly Latino and Black student population, including African American, Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and West African communities, the College provided a setting that reflected the themes of equity and representation embedded throughout the day’s program.
   
Faculty leadership at Hostos reinforced this message. Dr. Yoel Rodríguez, Professor, Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences, Hostos BMI Director, and Co-Director of the HRC, welcomed attendees and acknowledged the collective effort required to bring the event together, noting the importance of ensuring that the experience remained meaningful for students. He also pointed to the steady growth of undergraduate research at the college and to its tangible outcomes. In recent years, he said, more than 90 engineering students affiliated with research initiatives at Hostos have gone on to complete bachelor’s degrees or related degrees at four-year institutions such as City College’s Grove School of Engineering or City Tech.
 
He added, “One alumna has recently finalized her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at UPenn. 4 other alumni have earned or are pursuing their master’s degrees in engineering from New York University, UPenn, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and University of Cincinnati. Many of these alumni conducted undergraduate research and were part of BMI while they were at Hostos.”
   
From a broader institutional perspective, Dr. Jonathan Quash, Executive Director of CUNY BMI, situated the symposium within the program’s more than two decades of work. He described it as a critical platform for cultivating future scholars and reaffirmed the university’s responsibility to create opportunities where students can be seen and supported in their academic pursuits.
 
The keynote address, delivered by health services researcher Dr. Ronald Sánchez, brought both professional insight and personal reflection to the gathering. Speaking to a room already energized by student presentations, Sánchez expressed admiration for the depth and range of the work on display. “I’ve been taking notes all morning,” he said. “The range and depth of research here is extraordinary.” He added that students were “light-years ahead of where I was at this stage,” positioning their work as evidence of both individual dedication and institutional support.
   
He framed participation in events like the symposium as a critical step in students’ intellectual and professional development. “By showing up to things like this, by presenting your work, you’re accelerating your development,” Sánchez said, urging students to view the experience as part of a larger trajectory. “This isn’t just about today. This is a stepping stone to what comes next.”
 
Sánchez also underscored the intentional nature of programs like the Black Male Initiative. “Programs like this are not accidental,” he said. “They exist because people believe students deserve opportunities to be seen, supported, and taken seriously as scholars.” He emphasized the urgency of that commitment, describing such efforts as essential rather than optional for students and their communities.
 
Drawing from his own career, Sánchez spoke candidly about uncertainty and self-doubt following his undergraduate years. “I had a strong resume, but I also had doubt,” he said. “I didn’t know if I was capable.” His path, which included time in the workforce, a return to graduate study, and roles across higher education, public service, and healthcare, was anything but linear. “It took me eight years to finish my PhD,” he noted. “It was not a race.” The message resonated with many in the audience navigating their own timelines.
 
Throughout his remarks, he returned to the broader purpose of research, describing it as a means of generating evidence that can shape policy, improve systems, and hold institutions accountable. He also emphasized the importance of mentorship. “Mentorship is not a transaction,” Sánchez said. “It’s a real relationship built on trust, honesty, and curiosity.” He closed by returning to the spirit of the symposium, reminding students, “We are not the exception. We are the expectation.”  
While the keynote articulated the value of research, the student panels illustrated its practical and personal dimensions. One of the first sessions, titled “Building Belonging Through Play: A Game-Based Approach to First-Year Student Success,” introduced an innovative approach to student engagement through a collaboratively designed board game. Presenting the project, Maya Jean explained that the game reimagines orientation as an interactive, community-centered experience, integrating resource sharing, reflection, and teamwork into gameplay. “Our goal is to graduate together,” Jean said, emphasizing a vision of success rooted in collective progress rather than competition. Designed for first-year and transfer students, as well as English language learners, the project underscored the importance of peer support in navigating college life.
 
Another panel, “Reimagining Urban Education: Equity and Post-Pandemic Recovery,” examined the challenges facing schools in the aftermath of COVID-19. Among the presenters, graduate student Jeffrey Suttles focused on the role of leadership in rebuilding trust within educational communities. Drawing on both research and lived experience, Suttles argued that effective leadership extends beyond administration. “Leadership isn’t just about managing systems,” he said. “It’s about building trust and showing up as a human being.”
 
The symposium also created space for deeply personal and politically charged topics. In the panel “Centering Lived Experience: Undocumented Lives and the Weight of Immigration Enforcement,” presenters Sabel Vega Castillo and Jennifer Moran combined historical analysis, policy critique, and personal narrative to examine the impact of detention, deportation, and surveillance on undocumented individuals and mixed-status families. Reflecting on the limits of quantitative data, one of the presenters noted that “storytelling allows us to see what statistics alone can’t,” highlighting the emotional and social realities often obscured in policy discussions.
   
As the day progressed, the scope of research continued to expand. In a session on environmental science, Hostos students Steven Martínez and Kareem Protain, who were mentored by Physical Sciences Professor Anna Ivanova, presented a study exploring the use of lemon balm as a low-cost method for reducing copper levels in contaminated water. Their work reflected a broader emphasis on practical, community-centered solutions to environmental challenges. Additional presentations examined topics including ancient viral sequences embedded in the human genome, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence ethics, climate monitoring, and labor inequality.
 
Across these varied fields, a shared thread emerged: research as a form of agency. Students stood at the forefront of their work, articulating their methods, interpreting their findings, and connecting their inquiries to broader social concerns.
   
What ultimately defined the symposium was not only the diversity of topics but the clarity of intention behind them. The projects presented were grounded in lived experience and shaped by a desire to address real-world challenges. In that sense, the event functioned as more than an academic exercise. It became a reflection of how students are actively shaping the intellectual and social landscapes they inhabit.