Kenyan-Born Joel Sati Wins $90,000 Soros Fellowship for Graduate School

Kenyan-born Joel Sati is one of the beneficiary of this year’s Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. 

Sati, who graduated from City College of New York in 2016, is one of 30 recipients of the program which offers $90,000 each to outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants for graduate studies in the United States.

The 30 were picked from a pool of 1,766 applicants for their potential to make noticeable contributions to American society, culture, or their academic fields. Sati and cohort are all children of immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, green card holders, or naturalized citizens.

“Whether it is through scientific discovery, business, literature, medicine, or law, immigrants enrich our everyday lives in the United States in profound ways. As a country, we need to refocus our attention on immigrant contributions,” said Craig Harwood, the fellowship program director.

Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, chief scientist of artificial intelligence and machine learning at GoogleCloud Fei-Fei Li
and Lieutenant Governor Cyrus Habib of Washington are some of past beneficiaries of the program.

“Coming from a working class immigrant background, being honored in this way is one of the best achievements I could have ever hoped for,” said Sati, who earned a BA in philosophy from CCNY.

Sati will use the cash to pursue a PhD in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program at UC Berkeley, and a JD at the Yale Law School.

His mother moved to the U.S. when he was 9-years old and worked hard to educate him in Georgia, Maryland, and later New York. He experienced challenges while in college since he was an undocumented student. 

He was, however, saved from deportation in 2012 after then President Barack Obama authorized the DACA program, which protects immigrants like him.

“It’s always great to make my mum proud. It’s because of her that I am where I am,” Sati thanked his mother. “I’m also thankful to The City College of New York. For years it has helped amplify the stories of immigrants like myself, and I would not be where I am without CCNY.”