![Gilman 2026 Scholars _ From left: Mariela Roa, Heaven Tejeda, Susan Lin and [insert Zuha Khan].](/sites/default/files/styles/600px_wide/public/2026-02/Gilman%20Scholars_2026.jpg?itok=2BP0HMWh)
Some of CCNY's 2026 Benjamin Gilman scholars, from left: Mariela Roa, Heaven Tejeda, Susan Lin and [insert] Zuha Khan.
Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East were the destinations for the latest cohort of Gilman Scholars at The City College of New York. Six outstanding undergraduates at CCNY were among the 29 recipients from CUNY of Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships that provide support for overseas travel and research.
Administered by the U.S. Department of State, Gilman Scholarships enable students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, gaining skills critical to national security and economic competitiveness.
Following are CCNY’s Gilman Scholars, their destinations and research topics:
Zuha Khan
From CCNY’s Macaulay Honors College, Khan, a senior, received her Gilman to study Arabic at the Sijal Institute for Arabic Language and Culture. An international studies major in the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, she will return to the United States this May.
Susan Lin
A junior in the Macaulay Honors College, Lin spent the winter session in Morocco completing a medical internship in the north African nation. The biology major spent most of her time in Fes and Marrakesh.
Rachel Olatunji
The Colin Powell School senior is using her Gilman Scholarship to fund her spring semester at Sciences Po in Reims, France. Olatunji is a political science and sociology double major who only needs to fulfill the rest of her requirements for the former. Her classes in France are all in English.
Mariela Roa
Majoring in Urban Studies and the Built Environment, Roa recently returned from Costa Rica where she studied in the Tropical Marine Biology Short-Term Field Program at Universidad Veritas in San José. The field based program entailed extensive travel throughout Costa Rica. This allowed Roa, a junior, to study diverse marine ecosystems and learn about the environmental impacts and conservation efforts around the country.
Heaven Castillo Tejeda
Over the course of two weeks, Tejeda traveled across Costa Rica collecting plankton samples, visiting national parks, and mangrove forests, among other things, as well as observing live research tests on different ray species. For the Colin Powell School senior pursuing an BA/MA in psychology, the program helped her understand Costa Rican culture better and experience one of the most biodiverse regions of the world.
CCNY’s sixth Gilman Scholar, art major Damante Griffith, traveled to Japan.
Gilman Scholars
Each year, the Gilman Scholarship grants up to $5,000 to students who are traditionally underrepresented in education abroad with the goal of helping them develop professional skills, language proficiency and understanding of the world. According to the Institute of International Education, which administers the Gilman program on behalf of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, associate degree students represented just 1.6% of students who studied abroad in the 2023-24 academic year. Since 2022, CUNY students have collectively earned 283 Gilman Scholarships. Below is a list of CUNY’s Spring 2026 Gilman Scholarship recipients and the country where they were selected to study abroad.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers, and society. At City College, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College's mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
p: 917.892.0374
e:
jmwamba@ccny.cuny.edu