Individual Nomination of Anthony Carpi

Cuny John Jay College Of Criminal Justice, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Anthony Carpi has served with John Jay College for 12 years. Dr. Carpi has championed a series of innovations that have substantially increased minority access to the sciences by significantly reducing attrition, greatly improving graduation rates, and dramatically increasing the number of graduates who pursue advanced degrees in the sciences. This series of innovations has integrated a culture of mentoring into the science program at John Jay College and has had particular benefits for their large population of minority students. Dr. Carpi has personally mentored 32 students, of which 56% are minority students. His students have been among the most successful scientists produced by John Jay College in the last decade - 11 of his mentees have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees, an unprecedented and truly remarkable achievement for John Jay. Dr. Carpi has worked to transform the science program at John Jay from training-oriented to research-oriented. He has spearheaded two substantial College-wide improvements: co-creating the Math & Science Resource Center (MSRC) and founding the Program for Research Initiatives for Science Majors (PRISM). MSRC serves thousands of students per semester and helped substantially reduce attrition from the science program in the first two years of the major. PRISM, a formal student research program and FOS402: Research Internships for Undergraduates, an undergraduate research course created by Dr. Carpi at John Jay College, have increased the number of undergraduates participating in mentored research from one to two per year to 32 in the 2007-2008 academic year alone and have contributed to significant increases in program graduation rates in recent years, especially among minority students. Dr. Carpi has served as an exemplar to his colleagues, and has contributed to the national effort to improve science mentoring. The MSRC has supported several thousand students since its founding, and has contributed to an approximately 30% increase in retention rates in the sciences. PRISM has affected more than 100 students since its creation, and has been a major factor in the almost three-fold increase in graduation rates from John Jay College's science programs.