BioQuest STEM Mentoring Program

What is BioQuest?

BioQuest is a STEM mentoring program designed to give middle and high school students meaningful opportunities to explore diverse careers in science, biotechnology, and medicine. Over the past two years, we've engaged more than 300 students from the Bronx and Harlem through hands-on enrichment events, winter break experiences, and a new paid summer internship program. We are proud to have co-created this program with our incredible partners at Areté Education, BioBus, Hunts Point Alliance for Children, Futures Ignite, Mott Hall II, and Weill Cornell Medicine.

2026-2027 Academic Year


Year 4 of BioQuest has begun! At our annual kick-off event, students, families, and mentors come together to launch a new season of science and discovery. Middle schoolers will explore living organisms up close with BioBus, while high schoolers will take on a hands-on lab challenge, and families join in STEAM activities together.

High school students will step into the world of the life sciences industry meeting professionals, exploring real career pathways, and discovering the many ways science shows up in the working world.

Middle schoolers will head outdoors for a day of hands-on science along the Hudson River. Students will investigate urban ecology, sample the living world around them, and discover that science isn't only found in a lab.

Students will get their first real taste of life inside a research environment! Working alongside BioBus scientists, middle schoolers will dive into guided discovery while high schoolers build hands-on technical skills.

Students will gather at the New York Genome Center to celebrate a season of learning and growth. Students will take part in hands-on science and a festive engineering challenge, reflect on the year so far, and set their sights on what's ahead.

BioQuest Ambassador Program

Last year, we launched the BioQuest Ambassador program, designed for highly engaged high school students interested in exploring STEM career opportunities. Throughout the program, students participate in monthly skill-building workshops and explore STEM career opportunities through paid summer internships. This new program provides a significant opportunity for students interested in STEM careers to build professional skills and connect with industry leaders who support their ongoing growth. Reach out to [email protected] for more information.

BioQuest Alumni

2025 was our first year with graduates of the BioQuest program! BioQuest continues to invest in its alumni by providing sustained guidance and skill-building that supports long-term success in STEM pathways. Through strategic advising, including dedicated office hours, individualized academic and career advising, and support with research planning and time management, alumni receive the tools needed to navigate increasingly complex academic and professional environments. Together, these efforts ensure BioQuest alumni are supported not only at critical milestones but throughout their journeys in science and beyond.

School Partners

Areté Education

Areté Education provides academic, social, and emotional support to students while working hand in hand with the schools students attend. They extend the traditional school day with learning experiences that are fully integrated into school communities.

Hunts Point Alliance for Children

Hunts Point Alliance for Children (HPAC) aims to expand the hopes and potential of Hunts Point children—nurturing young scholars along their path to college or career by unifying a diverse collective of community organizations to connect every family with the resources they deserve.

Futures Ignite

Futures Ignite works in New York City’s public school system to advance a whole-school model of programming, counseling, and advocacy to equip BIPOC students to direct their college and career futures. They’re committed to supporting all students, regardless of academic performance, to rise into their leadership potential.

Mott Hall II

Mott Hall II is dedicated to the academic and personal development of scholars who will become tomorrow's leaders. Scholars are challenged to question, anticipate and solve problems, assume personal responsibility, and emerge as enthusiastic lifelong learners and independent thinkers motivated by the pursuit of academic excellence and social responsibility.

Program Collaborators

BioBus

BioBus helps NYC students K-12+ to discover, explore, and pursue science. They focus on students excluded from the scientific community due to factors such as race, gender, economic status, and physical access.

Weill Cornell Medicine

For over 100 years, Weill Cornell Medicine has been a community of world-class physicians, researchers and educators committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians in New York City and around the world.

Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center is for learners of all ages. Their planetarium, exhibits, animals, and live science demonstrations make for an unforgettable experience. Their education programs enhance field trips with standards-aligned, highly interactive workshops, available for students from Pre-K through high school.

Life Science Cares

Life Science Cares provides a platform for companies and their employees to make a difference. We make impactful grants to community nonprofits that are implementing research-driven solutions in the areas of survival, education, and economic sustainability—and supercharge these grants with volunteer hours, donated goods, strategic support, and advocacy.

DNA Learning Center

Since the DNA Learning Center was established in 1988, they have been advancing genetics education through laboratory experiences for students and educators in New York and beyond. More than 750,000 middle and high school students have experienced our hands-on approach to science instruction over the last 35+ years.

New York Genome Center

New York Genome Center advances genomic science and its application to novel biomedical discoveries by leveraging technology development, computational biology, and whole-genome sequencing. The center focuses on developing new genomic technologies, designing new clinical trials, and translating genomic discoveries into new treatments, diagnostics, and preventive measures.

Genspace

Genspace is the world’s first community biology lab, where people of all backgrounds learn, create, and grow with the life sciences. They have served the greater New York area by providing hands-on STEAM education programs for youth and adults, cultural and outreach events for the public, and a membership program to support New York’s community of creatives, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Genspace provides a platform for innovation and cultivates the next generation of life sciences leaders in emerging global technologies, such as biotechnology, neuroscience, epidemiology, genomics, and many more.

Hudson River Park

Hudson River Park’s River Project hosts a series of low-cost environmental education programs for organized groups using the Hudson River waterfront as its classroom. Field trip programs allow students to interact with the River and Park through enriching and fun activities that inspire the scientist within each student!

American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret, and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education, and exhibition.
City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY) provides a public, first-rate education to all students, regardless of their means or background. CUNY acts as a transformative engine of social mobility for New York City. This mission is supported by a focus on affordability, academic excellence, student support, and preparing graduates for social and economic mobility. 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a premiere academic center for medical education, biomedical research, and clinical investigation that has transformed science and medicine. They prepare students to become knowledgeable, compassionate physicians, and pioneering scientific investigators. From cancer and diabetes to aging and neuroscience, their faculty, medical, and graduate students drive innovation to improve the health of Bronx community, and people around the world.

Deerfield Catalyst

Deerfield Catalyst is a medtech incubator that aims to support and advance transformational innovation into commercial products and successful enterprises. A collaboration between Deerfield and the Coridea team, Deerfield Catalyst is focused on developing medtech solutions that improve outcomes and streamline patient care.

New York Structural Biology Center

The New York Structural Biology Center (NYSBC) is a global scientific leader, with unsurpassed instrumentation and expertise dedicated to developing, applying, integrating and disseminating structural biology methods. NYSBC makes advanced structural biology techniques accessible to biomedical researchers both their member institutions and across the nation, informing efforts to improve human health and welfare.

CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

The CUNY Advanced Science Research Center unites leading researchers across five critically important areas of science to address complex questions with profound implications for scientific discovery and societal well-being. Each initiative distinguishes itself nationally and internationally through pioneering research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and training opportunities for the next generation of innovators.

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Penn Medicine advances knowledge and improves health through research, patient care, and education in a community that fosters innovation, stimulates critical thinking, embraces equal opportunity, supports lifelong learning, and sustains our legacy of excellence.