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Shabnam Pahrand, the daughter of Afghan immigrants who is graduating summa cum laude from the Macaulay Honors College at CCNY with double majors in philosophy and political science, is The City College of New York’s Class of 2026 Valedictorian. Sayyid Yobhel Vasquez Rodriguez, a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy Reserve who completed his BS in biology also with summa cum laude honors, is the Salutatorian. The City College will hold its 173rd Commencement Exercises, 10 a.m., Friday, May 29, on the South Campus Great Lawn, 135th St. and Convent Ave., Manhattan. The Class of 2026 comprises 3,542

For the fourth time in three years, Gerstner Philanthropies is supporting critical programs to address the needs of students from low-income households as they pursue an education at The City College of New York, one of the nation’s top schools for social mobility outcomes. A new $35,000 grant will bolster Benny's Food Pantry at CCNY and its community dining programs. Launched in 2017, one of Benny's goals is to address food insecurity among those in need on The City College campus. But Benny's is also open to anyone in the City University of New York (CUNY) community, whether student, faculty

The City College of New York is the recipient of $5.1 million in both Federal and State funding for projects supporting workforce development and the CCNY-based CUNY Dominican Studies Institute [DSI]. The funds are part of a record $25 million in U.S. Congressional Fiscal Year 2026 Appropriations to CUNY. Of CCNY’s Federal allotment, $3.1 million was procured by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) for the CUNY DSI. “This support will lead to more community events at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at City College. I won’t stop fighting

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

Five City College of New York undergraduates from the Division of Science were winners at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) in San Antonio, Texas. The conference attracted close to 5,000 participants – including graduate students, researchers, scientists and exhibitors. Following are details about CCNY’s triumphant ABRCMS quintet, their majors, subject matter and project titles: Litsi Auquilla, junior, biomedical science; social and behavioral sciences and public health, “Comparing Environmental and Clinical Characteristics of Lung Cancer Across New

Three students from The City College of New York are winners of the inaugural FRAME FORWARD Student Video Festival from the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education. The festival is open to all CUNY students, regardless of their major, with this year’s theme: “Featuring Student Life Through the Eyes of Those Living It.” The festival was founded by Juan Carlos Mercado, dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Lorena De Miranda Marques, academic advisor, marketing and communications, recruitment coordinator at CWE. All winners received a trophy and

Dayanara Rodriguez, a M Arch ’26 student in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York, is a 2025 AIA Bronx Student Empowerment Award winner. She received a $1,000 scholarship and was honored at the awards ceremony along with other students for their participation in the Bronx Reimagined Design Challenge, a competition dedicated to transforming abandoned buildings in the Bronx into spaces that positively impact the surrounding community. “We are incredibly proud of Dayanara Rodriguez for receiving the 2025 Bronx AIA Empowerment Scholarship,” said

Two faculty members and one graduate student of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York have received 2025 Independent Projects grants from the New York State Council on the Arts in conjunction with the Architectural League of New York. Each $10,000 award was granted for a self-generated year-long project in design practice and research that sought to answer the question of where design can go next. In the 2025 cycle, 25 proposals were selected out of 176 applications by a panel of 12 designers and educators. The CCNY grant recipients are: Assistant

AI-powered products that offer early wildfire smoke and air quality predictions, and track tenant and landlord leases were among the winners in the inaugural “BYTE Hacks,” a 24-hour hackathon at The City College of New York. More than 100 students from schools in the Metropolitan area, including New York University, Fordham, Rutgers Honors College, Stony Brook and Hunter College, participated in the event sponsored by Google Labs, Vercel, and Red Bull. Organized by BYTE (Build Your Technical Experience), a CCNY student club, the hackathon offered $5,000 in prizes. Project themes were

For the second time in three years, some of Ukraine’s brightest high school students can count on The City College of New York as they continue on the path to become their embattled nation’s next generation of scientists and engineers. The “Science for Ukraine” program is the brainchild of former CCNY physicist Alexander Khanikaev, a pioneer of topological photonics and one of the world’s Highly Cited Researchers (HCR). It brings students, mostly from the STEM-focused Ukraine Physics and Mathematics Lyceum (UPML) in Kyiv, and is supported by the Simons Foundation, the Office of Naval Research