The Thomas Tam Scholarship is funded by an endowment established by the City University of New York in recognition of Dr. Thomas Tam’s contributions as a former member of the CUNY Board of Trustees, founding Executive Director of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute, and leadership in the Asian American community. The Scholarship awards $1,000 to an individual qualified undergraduate student that is currently enrolled at any of the twenty-one colleges within CUNY, Asian or non-Asian, who has demonstrated creativity in the communication of the concerns of the Asian American community in areas such as health, education, culture, media and advocacy.
The 2019 CUNY Thomas Tam recipient will be honored at AAARI’s 18th annual gala on November 14, 2019.
2019 Recipient
Biling Chen (Queensborough Community College)
Project: Helping to Integrate Young Asian Immigrants Into the United States
Ms. Biling Chen, a Chemistry major, plans to conduct a weekly volunteer workshop to assist newly-arrived Asian international students at Queensborough Community College with guidance on how to navigate American and college life, and offer tutoring for science, math and English courses. The workshop will be conducted in English to help students practice their speaking skills, and to foster more social connections on and off-campus. Participants will also visit local retirement homes to provide company to Asian immigrant seniors who may feel isolated.
Arriving to the United States in 2016 as an international student, Ms. Chen knows first-hand the difficulties of arriving to a new country, alone, and having difficulties with English. It wasn’t until Ms. Chen enrolled in science courses at Queensborough and socialized with students of other ethnic backgrounds in English, that she found herself more integrated into this new community. Through the guidance and encouragement of her two mentors, Dr. Sasan Karimi and Dr. Paris Svoronos, Ms. Chen has presented research on Organic Chemistry and Biology Phages at professional conferences hosted at Queens College, St. John’s University, York College, and SUNY Old Westbury.
In 2018, Ms. Chen was a demonstrator during National Chemistry Week at the New York Hall of Science, and also served as president of the Chemistry Club. Currently she is president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, and also works three jobs including as a peer mentor and a Tutorial Services Leader. She plans on later pursuing a Ph.D. in the sciences in order to contribute to the greater knowledge of the scientific community, and work with other in the the community to succeed.
Application Guidelines
2019 Scholarship Application Form (Download)
All currently enrolled CUNY undergraduate students are eligible to apply for the Thomas Tam Scholarship.
Display of communication of the concerns of the Asian American community can be in the form of written reports, film, video, new media techniques, and the development of performances or materials in the arts and sciences.
The following are the issues to be addressed in your application for the Tam Scholarship. Please be sure to cover all of the points in your application.
- Please describe your project in detail, be sure to tell us about the issue of concern to the Asian American community that the project is designed to address.
- Please explain how your project demonstrates creativity in communicating the concerns of Asian Americans in areas such as health, education, culture, media and advocacy.
- What are the objectives or goals of the project, i.e. what do you want to accomplish, or what impact or effect will it have? How will you know that it has been successful?
- How was the project implemented, or if in progress or a future project, please describe how it will be implemented?
- Is the project completed, is it in progress or is it a future project? (Note: Uncompleted/future projects will only receive partial scholarship award until they are completed.)
Scholarship Committee: Russell Leong, Joyce Moy & Pearl Tam
Coordinator: William Tam
