Científico Latino Academy
(for first-year graduate students)
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Cientifico Latino Academy (also known as the first-year graduate program) is a
10-month mentorship program that supports graduate students (GSMI Alumni) as they navigate their first year in graduate school.
This program provides GSMI alumni with access to small mentorship groups, community building events, workshops on professional development, scientific training and career exploration. Additionally, our Científico Latino Academy scholars wll have access to an Expert Bench of academics and professionals for expert guidance.
Demographic information on 336 first-year graduate students served (2021-2025):
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52% identified as Latinx, 19% as Black, 2.4% as Indigenous
- 69% of our cohort identified as women
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54% applicants were first-generation (first-gen) college students
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62% applicants were from low-income backgrounds
2026 Científico Latino Academy
This year, we will support 40 first-year graduate students in STEM fields ranging from Neuroscience, Engineering,
Psychology, Astrophysics, Biosciences across 37 universities across the U.S., such as the
University of Michigan, Yale University, University of California, among others.
CIENTÍFICO LATINO ACADEMY MENTORS
Científico Latino Academy aims to train the next generation of scientific leaders to enter the scientific workforce by providing first-year graduate students (graduates of our GSMI program) with professional development, scientific training, career exploration, mentorship, and community building in a critical year of graduate school studies.
The role of our Científico Latino Academy Mentors, advanced graduate students (3rd year onwards and passed their qualifying exam) or postdocs is to provide mentorship for a community of first-year graduate students as they navigate their Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 semester.
Responsibilities:
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Meet with your mentorship pod monthly and be the key contact for your pod in Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 semester
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Fill out program surveys to ensure mentees are supported in graduate school and be in communication with the Cientifico Latino Program Director
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Estimate volunteering time: 10-12 hours per semester
Eligibility:
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STEM professionals including PhD students, PhD candidates, post-doctoral scientists
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All STEM fields eligible
The 2026 Científico Latino Academy mentor commitment takes place between 08/01/26 - 05/31/27.
You can apply here to become a Científico Latino Academy mentor!
CIENTÍFICO LATINO EXPERT BENCH
Cientifico Latino Academy scholars will be able to request a 1-hour meeting with an expert for targeted advice on a specific topics, such as choosing a thesis lab, applying for the NSF-GRFP or NIH F31, grant writing, navigating advisor relationships, launching scientific outreach, or starting a nonprofit.
Responsibilities:
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Meet with assigned Científico Latino Academy scholar for a 1 hr meeting
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Provide verbal feedback on the student's question (i.e. choosing a laboratory, tackling scientific papers, scientific outreach, nonprofit management, grant writing strategies, etc.)
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Estimated volunteering time: 10-20 hours per semester
Eligibility:
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Early to Late-stage scientific professionals
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Example: Academic professors, industry experts, program directors, scientific artists, or other STEM-adjacent professionals.
The 2026 Científico Latino Academy Expert Bench commitment take place between 08/01/26 - 05/31/27.
You can apply here to join our Científico Latino Expert Bench.
For any questions, please contact: gsmi@cientificolatino.com
Thank you to our previous and current partners!
This work was funded by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and Simons Foundation.
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2026 CIENTífico Latino Academy scholarship
In 2024, we launched a graduate school scholarship fund to cover 1st year graduate school expenses for thirty-four scholars and provided $42,500 in scholarship funds (thank you to the the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for their support). In 2025, we provided a total of $25,000 in scholarship funds to support 25 students, part of our first-year graduate student mentorship program
Thank you to the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and Burroughs Wellcome Fund for their support!
Purpose: In 2026, we expect to provide 20 scholarships of $1000 to cover 1st year graduate school expenses for 20 Científico Latino Academy scholars (who are GSMI 2025 alumni enrolled in graduate school).
The funds can be used for general educational expenses, such as tuition, application fees , preparation material, academic courses, academic conference registration, and school supplies i.e. laptops.
Only twenty 2026 Científico Latino Academy scholars will be selected for this scholarship, the recipients will be selected based on academic merit, need-based, and contributions to the scientific community. Please note, we define academic merit broadly, this can include from publishing a research paper, presenting a poster at a research conference, working on scientific outreach work or pursuing college/graduate studies while navigating unique circumstances.
Eligibility: You must be enrolled in graduate school in a Master's or PhD program this Fall 2026 and must be a 2026 Científico Latino Academy scholar. This scholarship application is open to GSMI Alumni (class of 2025) enrolled in graduate school and in our Científico Latino Academy program, however only twenty will be selected this year.
Timeline: TBA. We will interview twenty candidates mid-October and publish our list of twenty Científico Latino Academy scholarship recipients at the end of October. We expect awards to be distributed in November.
The application survey will only be made available to 2026 Científico Latino Academy scholars. If you have any questions, please email contact@cientificolatino.com.
TEstimonials
"The Alumni Program was my rock during my first year in graduate school. The webinars were extremely helpful to expose me to new areas I haven't explored previously, and the mentorship pods gave me the support I needed during stressful periods of time. Having to navigate everything that happened over the course of the year by myself, I truly do not know how I could have managed it."
"The CL Alumni program made a huge difference in my first year of PhD experience! The workshops were so insightful and even things as small as celebrating wins on Slack were so huge. The constant affirmation from the CL team made me feel like I had the tools to succeed, despite so many external factors telling me I shouldn’t have ended up in academia in the first place. I recommend CL to any grad-school-curious people I encounter."
"The biotech and pharma workshops were very helpful as many academics are not super familiar with the field as it is very different. Learning about the basics of drug discovery gave me a good idea of the industry and how to further learn more about different aspects of R&D."