Brandon Nicholson ’05 Is Mentoring Black Male Students in STEM

By: Tom Kertscher | Princeton Alumni Weekly
Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023

The harsh reality of inequity greeted Dr. Brandon Nicholson ’05 on his first day at a preparatory school in affluent Marin County, California.

Some of Nicholson’s high school classmates drove up in “absolutely brand new” cars. Unlike his earlier school days in his native Oakland, California, “there was no discussion about supplies or things we have to bring.”

“That ultimately solidified my interest in the space of equity and policy, just understanding that there are exponentially more resources available there,” Nicholson adds. “But no young person was more deserving of access to a quality education in Marin than anyone I encountered in Oakland. That really became the thrust for me to try and work on education policy.”

Nicholson is the founding executive director of The Hidden Genius Project, an Oakland-based organization that for more than a decade has trained and mentored upwards of 9,000 Black male students in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills. Early success led to branches in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

Inc. magazine named the project to its best in business list for 2021. The magazine cited the project’s 15-month Intensive Immersion Program, which gives students in grades nine through 11 more than 800 hours of education and mentorship in computer science and business. Participants have a 90% post-secondary education matriculation rate.