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L-R: Dr. Richard Moses SEBS’12; Dr. Jenice Sabb, Cook College’87, retired Director of EOF; Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF; and Dr. Jacqueline Moore, current Director of SEBS EOF.
Four decades after its first summer program, the SEBS Educational Opportunity Fund’s Solid GEMS program continues to prepare students to succeed in science while building a community that extends well beyond graduation
Summer 2026 marked a significant milestone for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program as Solid GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science celebrated 40 years of preparing students for success in the sciences.
The anniversary was commemorated on July 26 at the Livingston Student Center, bringing together 66 alumni, current students, faculty, staff, administrators and supporters to celebrate a program whose impact has extended across generations.
Among those in attendance were 34 Solid GEMS alumni whose participation in the program spanned from its earliest years in 1986 through 2026. It was the largest gathering of Solid GEMS alumni at a single event in the history of the SEBS EOF Program and offered a powerful visual representation of the program’s enduring legacy.
For four decades, Solid GEMS has been rooted in a simple but consequential idea: students with talent and potential can excel in rigorous science disciplines when they are provided with the academic preparation, mentorship, community and opportunity to do so.
Alumni panelists at the Solid GEMS 40th anniversary event.
From “Diamonds in the Rough” to Solid GEMS
The history of Solid GEMS dates to 1980, when research and development began on an instructional approach designed to strengthen the performance of EOF students in introductory mathematics and science courses. The first Solid GEMS summer pilot program launched in 1986 through the EOF Program at Cook College in partnership with the Rutgers University Department of Chemistry.
The program’s name reflected both its academic purpose and its philosophy. GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science represented the program’s focus on building a strong academic foundation, while “Solid GEMS” reflected the belief that students were like “diamonds in the rough”: individuals with tremendous potential who could flourish when provided innovative instruction and comprehensive academic support.
Built on research in student learning, the GEMS instructional model emphasized four stages New Problems, Exploration, Invention and Application designed to move students beyond memorization and toward critical thinking, problem-solving and scientific reasoning.
Solid GEMS was developed to improve achievement in introductory mathematics and science courses, increase retention, reduce attrition and encourage EOF students to persist in science-related majors. Historically, it served as the third component of an EOF student success model that began with a Pre-Freshman Summer Institute and continued with academic support during the first year.
Over time, the program evolved, but its central mission remained: prepare students not simply to pass challenging science courses, but to develop the skills and confidence to see themselves as capable scientists and STEM professionals.
A History Built on Being “Solid”
Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF, gave the keynote address at the 40th anniversary.
Frager Foster, who served as director of the SEBS EOF Program from 1981 to 2013, delivered the anniversary keynote address and took attendees back to the program’s beginnings. Foster connected the philosophy behind Solid GEMS to a much deeper cultural history.
“The connection between the Harlem Renaissance and the Solid GEMS Program is both meaningful and intentional,” Foster said. “Since the 1920s, the word solid has symbolized far more than strength. It represented trust, loyalty, reliability, and mutual responsibility.”
For Foster, the word captured what the program was designed to create among students, faculty and staff.
“To be solid meant being dependable, standing by one another, and producing results through consistency and integrity,” he said.
That philosophy became embedded in the culture of Solid GEMS. Students were challenged academically, but they were not expected to navigate those challenges alone. Faculty instruction, peer tutoring, collaborative learning, mentoring and community became integral parts of the experience.
The 40th anniversary celebration also honored the leadership that helped sustain that philosophy over four decades. Foster attended alongside Jenice Sabb-Dumas, who served as director from 2005 to 2021, and Jacqueline Moore, current assistant dean/director of the SEBS EOF Program and Solid GEMS director, who has served the program since 2006.
A presentation at the 40th anniversary event takes a look back at Solid GEMS.
Together with generations of faculty, staff, teaching fellows, tutors and supporters, their leadership represents the continuity that has allowed Solid GEMS to remain an important part of the SEBS EOF experience.
More Than a Chemistry Course
Today, Solid GEMS operates as a summer program, with intensive academic support designed to help students progress through foundational science coursework.
Its continued success was evident during the anniversary summer. In 2026, 12 residential Solid GEMS scholars participated in the 12-week Chemistry program, completing Chemistry Parts I and II. All 12 students successfully passed their courses a 100 percent success rate among the residential participants.
Yet the value of Solid GEMS cannot be measured by course grades alone.
The program combines rigorous coursework with collaborative learning, faculty engagement, peer tutoring and mentoring. Students develop study strategies, learn how to work through difficult scientific concepts and discover the importance of seeking academic support. Just as importantly, they build relationships with peers who are experiencing many of the same challenges.
That combination can change how students view themselves.
A difficult introductory science course can cause students to question whether they belong in a science major. Solid GEMS works to transform that uncertainty into confidence. Students leave the program having demonstrated to themselves that they can successfully complete demanding science coursework.
For many, completing chemistry through Solid GEMS does more than move them toward the next course in their academic sequence. It reinforces their belief that pursuing a science major is not only possible it is the right choice.
That sense of academic confidence and belonging is one of the program’s most important outcomes.
Forty Years of Alumni and Community
The 34 alumni who returned for the anniversary celebration demonstrated another important measure of Solid GEMS’ success: the community created during the program does not necessarily end when the summer ends or even when students graduate from Rutgers.
Over four decades, Solid GEMS alumni have gone on to careers and advanced study in medicine, research, science, healthcare, education and other professional fields. Some have returned to the program as mentors, tutors and supporters for the students coming behind them.
Solid GEMS alumni have developed into one of the SEBS EOF Program’s most established alumni communities, connected not simply by having participated in the same summer program but by a shared experience of perseverance, academic growth and mutual support.
That legacy can be seen in alumni such as Kevin Guerrero, SEBS’19, who previously credited Solid GEMS Biology House with providing his first laboratory experience. That opportunity helped spark his interest in research and contributed to a path that ultimately led him to medical school. Richard P. Moses, SEBS’12, similarly served as a teaching fellow for Solid GEMS Chemistry before going on to medical school and a career as a U.S. Navy anesthesiologist.
Solid GEMS alumni Dr. Esther Exantus ‘2015; Dr. Ashley Woolfork ‘2016; Dr. Jenice Sabb Cook College ‘1987; Mr. Frager Foster; Dr. Jacqueline Moore; and alumna Ms. Francia Noel ‘2015.
Their stories illustrate the long-term impact that an early academic opportunity can have on a student’s trajectory.
Protecting the Next 40 Years
As Solid GEMS celebrates its history, the anniversary also provides an opportunity to consider its future.
The program is now offered during the summer, when students can focus intensively on foundational science coursework and receive the academic support that has distinguished Solid GEMS for four decades. But providing that experience has become increasingly expensive.
The costs associated with summer tuition, housing, instructional support, tutoring, programming, food and other student needs continue to rise. Without sufficient resources, the number of students who can participate and the level of comprehensive support the program can provide can be limited.
Continued institutional, state, alumni and philanthropic support will therefore be essential to sustaining and strengthening Solid GEMS for future generations.
The SEBS EOF Program is grateful to the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and the EOF administration for its continued support of Solid GEMS and its role in sustaining a program that has made a meaningful difference in students’ lives for four decades.
The need that inspired Solid GEMS in 1986 remains relevant today. Students arrive at Rutgers with ability, ambition and dreams of careers in science, healthcare, research and other STEM fields. What can make the difference is access to the preparation, mentorship and community that allow those abilities to develop.
In closing the 40th anniversary celebration, Moore reflected on the principle that has sustained Solid GEMS throughout its history: talent exists in every community, but opportunity can change the trajectory of a life.
Solid GEMS provides more than academic instruction. It gives students an environment in which they can struggle with challenging material, learn from those struggles, support one another and ultimately experience success. Through that process, students develop confidence, resilience, belonging and the academic skills needed to continue progressing in the sciences.
Forty years after the first summer pilot program, the meaning behind the name remains remarkably fitting.
The students are the gems. The academic preparation helps them shine. And the community surrounding them remains solid.
Filed Under: Academic Excellence, Community, SEBS, Staff, Students .
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