$200K Grant Will Boost Hispanic Biology Students At Bloomfield College

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A National Science Foundation grant will help all future biologists at Bloomfield College – but particularly Hispanic students, administrators say.

Earlier this week, Bloomfield College announced that it was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $199,989 to fuel a student academic support project for biology majors.

It will be a welcome boost for the college, which is the state's only four-year Predominantly Black Institution, Hispanic-Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution.

“Although the project focus of this NSF grant is Hispanic students, all of our first-year biology students, a majority of which are Black or African American, will also be invited to participate in the program,” said Michael Palladino, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Bloomfield College.

“The anticipated increased retention, and ultimately, the graduation of Hispanic students and other minorities, will contribute to the number of minority scientists entering the workforce,” Palladino said.

There is a need for the funding – and for what it will help change, Bloomfield College administrators say.

According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanic and Black people are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs relative to their presence in the overall U.S. workforce, particularly among workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Hispanic individuals, it reports, comprise 17 percent of the U.S. workforce overall – but only 8 percent of the STEM workforce.

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Hopefully, the college’s “Interventions to Improve Academic Performance of Biology Majors” program can help put a dent in those numbers, administrators said.

Here’s what it will do:

“Incoming biology students in the program will participate in a week-long intensive summer enrichment to get a jumpstart on the first course in the biology curriculum. They will receive academic and social support via a peer coaching and tutoring program coordinated by a faculty member and led by trained peer coaches who are sophomore and junior biology majors. They will also participate in interdisciplinary course-based undergraduate research experiences designed as laboratory modules to further help develop confidence in their ability to perform basic scientific procedures, see themselves as scientists, and increase their sense of belonging at the college and to the wider scientific community.”

Tammy Castro, a biology professor at the college who helped to spearhead the grant application, said that it will help to bolster a STEM workforce that is “lacking in representation from professionals of Hispanic origin.”

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