Colin Powell School names Social Mobility Lab research grant recipients

The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York has announced its inaugural cohort of Social Mobility Lab research grantees.

Launched on April 15 with a panel discussion on The How and Why of Social Mobility, the Social Mobility Lab’s mission is to discover new ways to accelerate and expand opportunity for students and the communities they represent. Its approach is to learn more about what is driving social mobility, translate that knowledge into programs and practices to help students move up in life, and to engage the people and communities who can most benefit from this work.

The grantees will explore questions that reflect the lived experience of those the Lab seeks to help in their journey to a better life, such as: predictors of future success, such as neighborhoods of origin; how family dynamics affect life trajectories; the role of campus-based childcare play in determining how students who are parents define success and feel cared for; how religious identity and family relationships influence student choices on education and careers; and the effect of students’ immigration status on their sense of belonging and success. 

Others will explore questions about how higher education delivers on its promise as an engine of social mobility, including: the effectiveness of different universities, including CCNY, in creating moderate mobility (such as moving from lower economic rungs into the middle class); and what social mobility means to students, and what variables contribute to it.

Selected following a CUNY-wide competitive call for proposals, the 2024 grant recipients represent an interdisciplinary group of scholars dedicated to advancing social mobility through innovative research. They are:

Emanuel Agu, doctoral candidate in economics, CUNY Graduate Center;

Paul Attewell, distinguished professor of sociology and professor of urban education, CUNY Graduate Center;

April Burns, associate professor of psychology, Guttman Community College;

Miles Corak, professor of economics, CUNY Graduate Center;

Haydeeliz Carrasco, doctoral candidate in economics, CUNY Graduate Center;

Prabal K. De, chair and professor of economics, The City College of New York;

Adriana Espinosa, associate professor of psychology, The City College of New York;

Kai Gilchrist, lecturer in psychology, The City College of New York;

Robert Melara, chair and professor of psychology, The City College of New York;

Luis Monroy Gómez-Franco, assistant professor of economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst;

Waleed Y. Sami, assistant professor of psychology, The City College of New York;

Jennifer Sloan, adjunct lecturer in sociology, The City College of New York; and

Dhipinder Walia, lecturer in English, Lehman College.

In addition to their research projects, grant recipients will be invited to participate in discussions and activities aimed at enhancing the translational impact of their research. In Spring 2025, the grantees will share their findings with students, faculty, administrators and staff in a workshop that will consider their potential applications to improving student mobility.

"The Social Mobility Lab is an important new initiative for the Colin Powell School and beautifully aligned with our mission. We are pleased to be able to support the work and voices of faculty and doctoral students across CUNY," said Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean Andrew Rich of the Colin Powell School. "We look forward to promoting the research of our grant recipients, and to the important contributions they will make towards understanding higher education’s role in advancing social mobility in the U.S."

“We believe the only reason to study social mobility is to create more of it,” said the Lab’s acting director, Bob McKinnon. “We’re so excited by the possibilities of the Lab in general, and specifically the learning that comes from this first round of grants to do just that.”

About the Social Mobility Lab
The Social Mobility Lab at the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York aims to discover new ways to accelerate and expand opportunity for our students, their families and the communities they represent. The Lab supports research, teaching, public discussions, and experimentation — all geared to promote a better understanding of social mobility and the role higher education plays in advancing it. The Lab is unique among organizations focused on social mobility, because it is community-based and geared toward implementation of solutions: as we learn, we will translate that knowledge into programs and practices to help our students move up in life and will engage the people and communities who can most benefit from what we are doing at every stage of our work.

About the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
Established in 2013, the Colin Powell School is home to the social science departments at CCNY as well as the core leadership development and public service programs of the College. With almost 4,000 students, and graduating the most CCNY students annually, the Colin Powell School mission is to transform the nation’s most diverse student body into tomorrow’s global leaders. Half of our students are immigrants; more than seventy percent are first-generation college students. Eighty percent are people of color. Most come from lower income backgrounds. The Colin Powell School and City College remain among the most effective engines of economic and social mobility in the United States. The School is led by a faculty dedicated to the highest standards of research and to the university’s democratic and public obligations. Read more about the Colin Powell School.