Following a strong response last year, including a large number of compelling applications
advancing social justice and the funding of four student projects, this marks the
second year of the grant. We are excited to review new proposals and continue working
with the SBU student community toward advancing social justice.
2026 Grantees will be announced mid-June.
2025 Grantees
Undergraduate Summer Grants
$500/each
"Mental Health ToolBox" | Kamilah Pasha
This project addresses mental health disparities in under-resourced communities by
providing Classroom Mental Health Toolboxes to 15–25 classrooms to a Long Island elementary
school. Each kit includes tools and materials to support emotional regulation for
students, along with take-home resources for parents. Partnerships with local organizations
will help expand the project’s reach. This work integrates social work training with
a long-term commitment to advancing equitable, community-based mental health care
for children.
"Indigenous land and cultural sovereignty" | Merica Griffin
This project combines academic research and creative work focused on Indigenous land
and cultural sovereignty. The first component supports ongoing research on public
policy and environmental justice in Latin America, contributing to manuscript development
for future publication. The second uses environmental artivism through photography
to document Indigenous knowledge and highlight Stony Brook University’s location on
Setalcott Nation land. With grant support, the project aims to advance scholarship
on Indigenous land rights while fostering campus engagement through visual storytelling.
Graduate Summer Grants
$750/each
"Using EEG to examine how neural processing of social rejection is influenced by
cultural background" | Clinical Psychology Grad Student
This study examines how race-related social rejection may contribute to mental health
disparities by investigating its neural correlates using reward positivity (RewP),
an EEG-based marker linked to depression and social processing. By analyzing RewP
responses to same-race vs. other-race social interactions, the project aims to better
understand how racial discrimination translates into stress and depression risk. This
research represents an early step toward identifying culturally sensitive neurobehavioral
markers of depression in minoritized populations.
"Settler Colonialism, Ecocide, and the Climate Crisis in Occupied Palestine" | Ariek
Norford
This project contributes to a review paper, Settler Colonialism, Ecocide, and the
Climate Crisis in Occupied Palestine, for Social Work in Public Health. Focusing on
the environmental justice impacts of Israel’s occupation, it examines how land confiscation,
habitat destruction, and ecological degradation contribute to health disparities for
Palestinians. Drawing on expertise in ecology and farming communities, the research
will synthesize findings on olive grove destruction and afforestation. This work also
represents a first step in integrating academic research on community-driven conservation
with social justice advocacy for the Arab community, building skills to bridge research
and practice.
