NYC Education News

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CUNY Gets $1.5M for Paid STEM Research Program

CUNY has received $1.5 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to extend its Transfer to STEM Student Success program for another three years. The initiative supports students moving from CUNY community colleges into STEM bachelor's degree programs at City College, Hunter College, Lehman College and Queens College. The renewed funding is expected to provide research and professional development opportunities to 84 transfer students over the grant period. Participants who complete a full year receive $7,000 and take part in workshops, faculty-mentored summer research and a university-wide symposium. The program, launched in 2023, has already provided year-long experiences and laboratory research opportunities to more than 100 students.

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NYU Launches NYC Center to Study Microplastics and Health

NYU has launched a new research center bringing engineers and medical researchers together to study the health and environmental effects of plastics and develop safer materials. The NYC Center for Healthier Plastic Solutions is a joint initiative of NYU Tandon School of Engineering and NYU Grossman School of Medicine and is described by NYU as the first U.S. research center dedicated to addressing the full range of health and environmental threats posed by plastics. Researchers will develop and test hundreds of new plastic formulations, including non-petroleum materials, while using artificial intelligence to analyze results and identify promising alternatives. The initiative is supported by more than a dozen active NYU Grossman research projects and nearly $20 million in funding underway in 2026.

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NYU Langone Uses AI to Improve Radiology Training

NYU Langone Health researchers have developed an artificial intelligence-based approach designed to identify gaps in radiology residents' clinical training and provide personalized teaching cases. The system tracked the types of conditions residents encountered during their regular clinical work and identified important pathologies they had seen less frequently. Researchers then used ChatGPT-4o to help select three to five supplemental cases for each resident, which appeared alongside their regular clinical work and were reviewed with supervising physicians. The study found that the AI could identify exposure gaps and recommend needed case pathologies with more than 90% accuracy. Researchers say the approach could eventually be expanded to additional radiology specialties.

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NYU Gets $525K Gift for Chinese Diasporic Art Study

New York University's Institute of Fine Arts has received a $525,000 gift from Asymmetry to establish a new academic initiative focused on Chinese and Sinophone diasporic art. The partnership will support two PhD fellowships for research examining how migration, cultural exchange and the movement of artists and ideas have influenced visual culture across different regions. Fellows will also have opportunities to conduct collections and archival research through the Institute's network of New York museums and cultural organizations. The initiative will include an annual symposium bringing together researchers, curators, students and other specialists to examine Chinese and Sinophone diasporas through comparative perspectives. Asymmetry, a London-based nonprofit founded in 2020, will also connect the fellows with its international academic and cultural network.

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Mount Sinai, J&J Partner on New Brain Tumor Treatment

Mount Sinai researchers are collaborating with Johnson & Johnson to evaluate an experimental technology designed to deliver radiation directly to brain tumors through their blood supply. Developed by clinical researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the approach combines Iodine-131 with Johnson & Johnson's TRUFILL n-BCA in an effort to simultaneously restrict blood flow to a tumor and concentrate radiation within targeted vessels. Initial research will focus on meningiomas, the most common primary brain tumors in adults. Researchers will use patient-derived 3D-printed vascular models and advanced imaging to study how the agent is distributed before moving to preclinical evaluation. The research could provide a foundation for potential future clinical studies.

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Columbia Reports 32% Drop in Discrimination Filings

Columbia University reported a 32 percent decline in incident reports involving potential violations of its institutional equity policies during the 2025-26 academic year, according to newly released annual data. The University's Office of Institutional Equity documented 2,118 reports and 1,328 cases, with the number of cases declining 27 percent from the previous year. Columbia also identified 99 cases involving allegations of antisemitism, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian discrimination and Islamophobia, representing a 67 percent year-over-year decrease. However, reports of sexual harassment increased from the prior year, while dating and domestic violence reports rose for a second consecutive year. A separate university report found relatively few potential conduct violations among thousands of campus events.

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CUNY Professor Gets $560K for Prime Number Research

CUNY mathematics professor Louis-Pierre Arguin has been awarded $560,000 over four years as a principal investigator in an international research collaboration exploring some of the most challenging questions in number theory. Arguin, who is affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center and Baruch College, will participate in the Simons Collaboration on Universal Statistics in Number Theory. The project brings together researchers using probability and statistical physics to investigate patterns involving prime numbers, the Riemann zeta function and other mathematical problems. The funding will also support a postdoctoral researcher who will interact with doctoral students in the Graduate Center's Mathematics Ph.D. program, connecting CUNY students with a broader international network of mathematics researchers.

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Mount Sinai Study Finds Clues to CAR-T Side Effects

Mount Sinai researchers have identified biological changes that may help explain why some multiple myeloma patients develop a serious intestinal complication following CAR-T cell therapy. The study found that CAR-T cells can remain in intestinal tissue long after treatment and that patients with CAR-T-associated enterocolitis experience widespread disruption involving several types of cells in the gut. Researchers also detected increased activity in inflammatory pathways that could provide targets for future therapies. Two patients treated with the JAK1 inhibitor upadacitinib experienced improvements in symptoms and intestinal inflammation, although further research is needed. The study, led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, was published September 23 in Nature Medicine.

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City Tech Gets $200K for Hospitality Scholarships

New York City College of Technology, a CUNY college located in Downtown Brooklyn, will receive another $200,000 for scholarships supporting students pursuing careers in New York City's hospitality industry. The Francesco and Mary Giambelli Foundation renewed its four-year commitment to the City Tech Foundation, providing $50,000 annually for Hospitality Management students. The new grant will bring the foundation's total support for the program to $400,000 after an initial commitment funded scholarships for 50 students between 2022 and 2026. Awards range from $500 to the cost of a full semester's tuition and are available to eligible full- and part-time students based on financial need, academic achievement or a combination of both.