The Colin Powell School’s Social Mobility Lab at The City College of New York has announced the 2025 recipients of its Social Mobility Lab research grants and presented updates on its first cohort of grantees during the lab’s inaugural summit this past April 28th.
Over the course of the summit, the Lab showcased research from the inaugural cohort of grantees addressing the many dimensions of social mobility; prominently featured the voices of students sharing their own stories of social mobility; and highlighted the unique role CCNY and the broader CUNY system play as engines of upward mobility.
The recording of the summit can be viewed on the Colin Powell School’s YouTube page. “When we started the Lab, we said the only reason to study social mobility was to create more of it. Based on the initial findings shared by our first cohort of grantees within CUNY at our Summit, we are optimistic that they will do just that,” said Bob McKinnon, Director of the Social Mobility Lab. “We are equally hopeful that our new cohort of grantees, from colleges and Universities across the country, will similarly produce important knowledge to help others move up in life. We are so grateful for the opportunity to support their critical work.”
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 2026, the grantees will share their findings with students, faculty, administrators, and staff in our second annual Social Mobility Lab Summit, which will consider their potential applications to improving student mobility.
The 2025 cohort includes six innovative research projects led by 11 scholars from institutions across the country.
Each project was selected for its potential to generate actionable insights and inform policies that foster a deeper understanding of social mobility and make it more accessible. The 2025 Social Mobility Lab Research Grant Recipients are:
- Mohamed Hassan Awad, Assistant Professor, California State University, Los Angeles
- Andre Avramchuk, Full Professor, California State University, Los Angeles
- Mabel Sanchez, Assistant Professor, California State University, Los Angeles
- Seongwon Choi, Assistant Professor, California State University, Los Angeles
- Teresa Booker, Associate Professor, John Jay College
- Janeria Easley, Assistant Professor, Emory University
- Regina S. Baker, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
- Emily Dore, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard School of Public Health
- Andrew S. Hanks, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University
- Julie Gressley, PhD Candidate, The Ohio State University
- Joyce Kim, PhD Candidate, University of Pennsylvania
- Elizabeth Rivera, Associate Professor, Montclair State University
These scholars join the Social Mobility Lab’s growing network of researchers committed to deepening understanding of economic and social mobility, advancing policy-relevant research, and making complex ideas more accessible to broader audiences. Read more about the Social Mobility Lab’s new grantees here.
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.
