Professors Barberet, Lozano-Argüelles and Hoiland
Professors Receive NSF Grant Supporting Bilingual STEM Education

Professor Rosemary Barberet and Assistant Professor Cristina Lozano-Argüelles from John Jay College and Associate Professor Sarah L. Hoiland from Hostos Community College received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support ¿Quiénes son? Assessing Language Skills, Belonging and Identity of Bilingual Students: Towards a Bilingual Education STEM Transfer Pipeline.

Their project addresses the lack of data on Hispanic bilingual students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and aims to enhance understanding of language proficiencies, belonging and identity among these students and develop a stronger, more inclusive STEM transfer pipeline for Hispanic students. Supported by the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: HSI Program, the project will:

  • Study Spanish heritage learners and English language learners
  • Explore institutional cultures and readiness for bilingual course development
  • Develop a mixed-methods model to evaluate institutional readiness for bilingual education
  • Share findings and frameworks to help other institutions support bilingual students in STEM

Barberet is a member of the Department of Sociology with teaching and service in international criminal justice. Her publications have dealt with self-reported youth crime, women and crime, crime indicators, comparative methodology and victimology. Barberet has received awards from the American Society of Criminology, Sociedad Española de Investigación Criminológica and Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. She is fluent in French and Spanish, and earned a PhD from the University of Maryland, MA from the University of Massachusetts and AB from Georgetown University.

Lozano-Argüelles is a member of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and investigates how monolinguals and bilinguals understand language and the effects of interpreting experience on second language processing. She is currently working with undergraduate students and setting up an eye-tracking lab on bilingualism and interpreting. Lozano-Argüelles earned a PhD from Rutgers University, MAT from Indiana University Indianapolis and BA from Universidad de Salamanca.

Hoiland is a member of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and an ethnographer with research interests in gender, race, and group dynamics. Her forthcoming book with Temple University Press, Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club, will be out in January 2025. Hoiland was a 2019 Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellow and her external research funding is over $2.5M. She is on the board of Roots and Action/Raíces y Acción, Let's-Talk-Safety in Harlem and The Gow School. Hoiland earned a MA and PhD from the New School of Social Research and BA from Gonzaga University.