Jason Mighty
This is the third in a series of profiles of this year’s graduating class.
Biological Sciences graduate Jason Mighty was nervous about acclimating to life in New York after leaving Jamaica to pursue his college education. But once he arrived at Lehman, he hit the ground running, winning a scholarship and working on stem cell research with faculty in the Biological Sciences Department. Following graduation, Mighty will head to the Netherlands for the summer to participate in a neuroscience program at the University of Maastricht.
Mighty, a Bronx resident, has loved science since childhood. “I’m fascinated with how the body works,” says the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Scholar. “I want to develop drugs that fight cancer.” He has also been working in the lab of Professor Stephen Redenti (Biological Sciences) on stem cell research, focused in tissue engineering.
Mighty is a member of Golden Key International Honor Society and has received a St. George’s Society scholarship during his time at Lehman. Keeping him motivated and focused, he says, besides his academic interests, has been the faculty support he received at Lehman. He also appreciated the diversity of the curriculum.
“There are a lot of people working on different aspects of research,” says Mighty, “so I was able to get a peak into a lot of different fields. I also liked the interaction between the faculty and the students. It was very nurturing and sincere.”
Mighty says he would like to develop a program that helps children in Jamaica to become more involved with science. He will be the only undergraduate among the CUNY students chosen to study at the University of Maastricht this summer.
He hopes to enroll in a Ph.D. program at the CUNY Graduate Center in the fall and study molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Mighty ultimately would like to teach or work in the pharmaceutical industry.
