Curriculum Vitae  

Last updated: April 2026

Education

CUNY Queens College, New York, Master of Data Analytics & Applied Social Research, Expected May 2027 | GPA: 4.0

CUNY Queens College, New York, Bachelor of Social Science in Sociology — Summa Cum Laude Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts — Summa Cum Laude May 2025 | GPA: 3.9 

Minors: Data Analytics; Honors in the Social Sciences Dean's List: All Semesters (Fall 2022 – Spring 2025) 

Honors Thesis: "Who Gets to Be Gifted in The City of Dreams?: Rethinking the Life Trajectories of New York City's Disadvantaged and Minoritized Students"

CUNY Queensborough Community College, New York, Associate of Arts in Arts & Design, June 2021 | GPA: 3.7 Dean's List: Fall 2019, Spring 2019

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Apostolo, J. A. (2024). Who gets to be gifted in the city of dreams?: Rethinking the life trajectories of New York City's disadvantaged and minoritized students. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal, 8–12.

Traver, A. E., & Apostolo, J. A. (2019). Book Review: International Express: New Yorkers on the 7 train. Teaching Sociology, 47(3), 249–252. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X19853280]

Visual & Creative Publications

Apostolo, J. A. (2020, March). Cover art and visual contributions. Annual Juried Student Exhibition. CUNY Queensborough Community College.

Apostolo, J. A. (2019, May; 2020, March). Cover art and visual contributions. Queensborough Community College Annual Student Literary Journal.

Research Experience

Office of Institutional Effectiveness, CUNY Queens College, Research Assistant, December 2024 – Present

• Organize and curate 3,000 pieces of institutional evidence on SharePoint, fulfilling re-accreditation standards of Middle States and ensuring accuracy and quality of CUNY Queens College's Self-Study documentation.
• Transform complex alumni data and research findings into clear, effective deliverables by designing 33 data-driven infographics using Adobe InDesign, facilitating communication to diverse stakeholders.
• Contribute to institutional reporting by maintaining crucial data and document libraries aligned with accreditation requirements.

Department of Sociology, CUNY Queens College, Research Assistant, September 2024 – Present

• Transcribe approximately 8,000 historical images into digital text and produce a metadata database using qualitative coding methods.
• Design and maintain more than 20 spreadsheets to systematically extract and categorize variables for social network analysis.
• Develop and implement a new hire onboarding handbook, training templates, and demonstration materials for undergraduate researchers.

Department of Sociology, CUNY Queens College, Research Assistant, May 2025 – August 2025

• Provided critical support for book manuscript review, evaluating evidence quality and conclusions to inform revision needs for academic publication.
• Managed 80 sources using Zotero to maintain accurate and well-organized reference records across book chapters.

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Research Training Program, Undergraduate Student Researcher — University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Summer 2024

• Participated in an intensive research training program, developing graduate-level skills in methodology, academic writing, and scholarly communication.
• Advanced independent thesis research culminating in a presented paper at the MMUF Summer Research Symposium.

Department of Sociology, CUNY Queens College, Undergraduate Student Researcher, August 2023 – December 2023

• Managed and implemented a campus-wide evaluation project examining student involvement and its effect on educational experience and sense of belonging among urban college students.
• Collaboratively designed and deployed a survey using Microsoft Forms; executed systematic random sampling with approximately 1,800 participants.
• Conducted three 15-minute qualitative semi-structured interviews to develop 25 validated survey questions.
• Translated research findings into deliverables presented at the Borough of Queens CUNY Undergraduate Research Symposium (April 2024).

CUNY Research Scholars Program, CUNY Queensborough Community College, Undergraduate Student Researcher, October 2019 – September 2020

• Applied modern frameworks of migration to collect and qualitatively code data from over 26 historical novels, connecting sociological mechanisms of movement across eras.
• Co-authored a peer-reviewed book review published in Teaching Sociology (SAGE, 2019).
• Translated research findings into deliverables presented at two regional symposia (December 2019; July 2020).

Presentations

"Who Gets to Be Gifted in The City of Dreams?: Rethinking the Life Trajectories of New York City's Disadvantaged and Minoritized Students." Paper presented at the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Research Symposium. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. August 2024.

"Who Gets to Be Gifted?: How Segregation in New York City Public School Admissions Constructs the 'High Performing' and 'Talented.'" Paper presented at the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Regional Conference. Queens, NY. April 2024.

"Wanting to Be Involved: How Urban College Students Across Queens, New York, Define Engagement on Campus." Poster presented at the Borough of Queens CUNY Undergraduate Research Symposium. Queens, NY. April 2024.

"Child Emigration & Material Culture: A Sociological Analysis of Horatio Alger, Jr.'s Young Adult Novels." Paper presented at the CUNY Research Scholar Program's Virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Remote. July 2020.

"Consuming Prose, Passage, and Place in Horatio Alger, Jr.'s Young Adult Novels." Poster presented at the CUNY Research Scholar Program's Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Day. Queens, NY. December 2019.

Fellowships & Awards

• Paul Klapper Award, CUNY Queens College — May 2025
• Donald I. Brownstein/John McDermott Scholarship in Humanities — May 2025
• Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) — June 2023
• Beverly Baker Scholarship Endowment — May 2023
• Patricia Kendall Lazarsfeld Undergraduate Award — May 2023
• John S. and Yorka C. Linakis Scholarship — March 2023
• Transfer Honors Program Scholarship, CUNY Queens College — August 2021
• Arts & Design Scholarship, CUNY Queensborough Community College — January 2021
• P.H. Steckler Jr. Memorial Scholarship — January 2021
• SOA Abeles Scholarship — January 2021
• Art and Photography General Fund Award — March 2020
• Smithline Trefman Memorial Endowment Award — August 2019

Service & Volunteer Experience

Petey Greene Program / Getting Out and Staying Out Educational Tutor June 2022 – December 2024

• Created scope and sequence, lesson plans, worksheets, and curricular materials for Foundations courses in preparation for the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) exam.
• Supported the learning goals of over 36 formerly and currently incarcerated adults, demonstrating sustained commitment to equity in postsecondary education and workforce development.

Queens Public Library Data & Visualization Assistant June 2021 – August 2021

• Provided analytical support and assisted in the creation of presentations, effectively communicating findings from census data analyses to library stakeholders.

Leadership

Student Government Association, CUNY Queensborough Community College, Administrative Vice President & Vice President of Part-Time Students, May 2019 – June 2020

• Led planning, funding allocation, and execution of three student-centered events, coordinating logistics with on-campus and external vendors.
• Budgeted and documented event objectives for departmental archives; advocated on behalf of part-time student constituents.

Art & Design Department, CUNY Queensborough Community College, United Nations Student Representative, December 2018 – May 2019

• Authored a creative article promoting empathetic introspection, published in departmental communications.
• Reviewed past and present UN panels and engaged in mentored discussions to develop scholarly interests in global issues.

Certifications

Human Subject Research for Undergraduate Studies, CITI Program — September 2023 – September 2026 Responsible Conduct of Research for CUNY Researchers, CITI Program — February 2024 – February 2028

Skills

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

• Association for Institutional Research — September 2024 – Present 
• Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society — February 2024 – Present 
• American Sociological Association (Student Member) — May 2022 – Present 
• The National Society of Leadership and Success — September 2022 – Present 
• Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society — April 2019 – Present

Exhibitions

• Annual Senior's Thesis Showcase, CUNY Queens College — December 2024 
• Thomas Chen Family Crystal Windows Foundation Juried Competition, CUNY Queens College — October 2023 
• POM – Student Digital Photography Display, CUNY Queens College — March 2023 – March 2024 
• Annual Juried Student Exhibition, CUNY Queensborough Community College — March 2020 
• The Portrait Show, CUNY Queensborough Community College — May 2019 – August 2019