Every day, City College faculty are contributing to new knowledge in their areas of expertise. Their research is funded by prestigious and highly competitive grants in fields that range from science and engineering to the liberal arts. The number of faculty members across the College’s schools and divisions who involve undergraduate students in their research has made City College the largest undergraduate research program in the New York metropolitan area.

Grove School of Engineering
Division of Science
The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education

Centers and Institutes

Center for Analysis of Structures and Interfaces (CASI) 
The Center integrates research with education using a multidisciplinary approach to educate and train the next generation of scientists who will work on molecular nanomaterials and their uses in fabricating molecular nanodevices.

Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems (CENSES)
This multidisciplinary center brings together faculty members, research scientists and engineers, graduate students and undergraduate students from the Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Physics Departments of the City College of New York.

Center for Information Networking and Telecommunications (CINT)
Faculty and researchers from Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Economics develop telecommunications and information distribution system solutions for high speed, multimedia, multimedia, integrated wired and wireless networks.

Center for Metamaterials
The Center for Metamaterials is an NSF‐sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center that provides a forum for cooperative research on the development and application of metamaterials. Metamaterials are patterned and/or composite materials that exhibit effective permittivity, permeability or refractive index properties not found in nature.

Center for Water Resources and Environmental Research (CWRER)
The Center investigates pollution movement, surface water and groundwater cleanup, wetland preservation, watershed management, hydraulics and hydrology of natural flow systems, ecology preservation and the technical and sociopolitical outcomes. 

Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service
The Center will serve as a leading authority on preparing members of under-served communities for careers in government and the non-profit sector through mentoring, rigorous academic programs, research, internships and financial support.

City College Architecture Center (CCAC)
The Center, affiliated with the School of Architecture, Urban Design and Landscape Architecture, offers technical help and advocacy in planning/design to community groups concerned with physical and economic development of their neighbourhoods.

Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies
The Center bridges academia and policymaking through policy research and programming. Special emphasis is placed on engaging students within programs to build a generation of publicl policy leaders from traditionally underrepresented groups.

CUNY Center for Advanced Technology
The CUNY CAT supports important applied research, particularly in studies involving applications of photonics and other light-enabled technologies, by providing access to CUNY staff and facilities, training scientists and engineers and nurturing small, start-up companies. The CUNY CAT and its industrial partners generate large economic impact in commercial areas, including biomedicine and biotechnology, energy generation and storage, environmental monitoring and conservation, homeland defense and security, information technology and communications, innovative materials including metamaterials and nanotechnology, lasers and electro-optical devices, medical diagnostics and devices, and pharmaceuticals and therapies.

CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI)
Founded in 1992 and housed at The City College of New York, the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York (CUNY DSI) is the nation’s first university-based research institute devoted to the study of people of Dominican descent in the United States and other parts of the world. The Institute houses the Dominican Archives and Library in whose facility is also housed the CUNY DSI Gallery devoted to exhibitions of art work by and about people of Dominican descent.

CUNY Energy Institute
The CUNY Energy Institute produces cutting-edge research and develops innovative sustainable energy technologies that have practical and economical applications. Led by the renowned chemical engineering professor Sanjoy Banerjee, the Institute offers world-class opportunities to top-notch students: the chance to work side-by-side with a multidisciplinary faculty from CUNY's New York City campuses, and to be part of one of the nation's most ambitious and innovative energy research organizations.

CUNY Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies
The CUNY Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies conducts fundamental and applied research to obtain a molecular-level understanding of the complex processes that are essential to the functioning of animals, plants and viruses, and to use these insights to design new devices for biomedical, agricultural and energy applications.

CUNY Institute for Municipal Waste Research
The Institute, headquartered in  the School of Engineering, assists urban communities in finding and implementing solutions to municipal waste through research on the generation, treatment, recycling and disposal of municipal waste.

CUNY Institute for Transportation Systems (ITS)
The Institute, based in Civil Engineering, trains transportation planners, engineers and managers to plan, design, operate and manage transportation systems that protect the environment and energy resources and cause minimal social disruption.

CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS)
The Institute identifies solutions to issues like aging capital stock, environmental sustainability, and urban economic competitiveness the managing of  transportation, energy, water, buildings, and other infrastructure systems by public agencies.

Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL)
The Institute is a renowned multidisciplinary research laboratory promoting research and education in photonic and laser technologies for scientific, engineering, medical, and industrial applications. It encompass ten laboratories and support staff of 52.

New York Center for Biomedical Engineering (NYCBE) 
The Center, based in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBE),  is a consortium of New York City medical research institutions that facilitates  collaborative biomedical engineering research including translational technology development.

NOAA-Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center
The Center’s research and training focuses on all aspects of remote sensing including: sensor development, satellite remote sensing, ground-based field measurements, data processing and analysis, modeling, and forecasting.

Research Center for Minority Institutions (RCMI)
The CCNY Research Center for Minority Institutions has been in existence for over 15 years through funding from the NCRR section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The research interests of the RCMI span four scientific areas:  structure and function of biomolecules; cancer research; study of molecular events in neural systems; and immunology-related research.

Rifkind Center for the Humanities  
The Center promotes cultural events  in the Humanities connected with the College, like faculty research support, organization and sponsorship of special events,  school outreach programs, and assistance with College publications in the Humanities.

University Transportation Research Center (UTRC) 
The Institute, based in the Civil Engineering Department, but in cooperation with other units of the College trains transportation planners, engineers and managers to plan, design, operate and manage transportation systems that satisfy the needs of society.

Establishing a New Center or Institute

The establishment of research centers and/or institutes is governed by CUNY policy (pdf). Before submitting a proposal to CUNY for the establishment of a new center or institute, the proposal must be approved by the faculty of the generating academic division/school and the Faculty Senate.