Despite decades of reform efforts, STEM education continues to face calls for improvement, especially regarding the teaching laboratory. Establishing an empirical understanding of the types of hands-on, psychomotor skills that students need to learn to succeed in downstream careers could help ensure laboratory courses are promoting authentic…

Approaches toward engaging undergraduates in scientific research have included research experiences based in faculty laboratories (FLREs), course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), and courses rooted in primary research literature that may be precursors to research experiences. We examined outcomes for undergraduate biology students…

While the paths after graduate school are increasingly varied, the central goal of doctoral programs remains to develop independent researchers. Given the important role of doctoral advisors in the socialization and progress-making of doctoral students, we conducted semi-structured interviews with faculty advisors who regularly advise chemistry…

The 2010 and 2020 U.S. Census confirmed the overall U.S. population is growing and diversifying. These trends, however, are not matched in higher education enrollment. The disparities are even more pronounced for STEM doctoral education. In response to these inequalities, higher education institutions have responded with a variety of solutions,…

Low persistence in science majors and limited participation in high-impact research experiences contribute to the nationwide underrepresentation of minorities in the science workforce, particularly jobs requiring a graduate degree. The Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS) is an academic support program at the…

Although many summer undergraduate research programs made the decision to delay, cancel, or suspend their summer experiences in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Morehouse College McNair Scholars Program instead offered a completely virtual summer research experience to 14 Scholars with faculty-led remote research. The program…

In 2011, DePaul University established the Arnold L. Mitchem Fellowship Program to support graduate school preparation for first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented second-year students. The program aims to advance students' academic and career paths through an early research experience where students create literature reviews that…

Undergraduate researchers at research universities are often mentored by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers (referred to collectively as "postgraduates") and faculty, creating a mentoring triad structure. Triads differ based on whether the undergraduate, postgraduate, and faculty member interact with one another about the…

Current understandings suggest that three aspects of writing practice underpin the research student publication process: knowledge creation, text production and identity formation. Publishing a literature review is the first opportunity most students have to publish. This article compares the pedagogical benefits of different literature review…

Undergraduate Research (UGR) is any creative effort undertaken by an undergraduate that advances the knowledge of the student in an academic discipline and leads to new scholarly insights or the creation of new knowledge that adds to the wealth of the discipline. Undergraduate research is valued and encouraged at several HBCUs; however, the…

The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, which celebrated its 20th year in 2008, is considered a successful intervention program for increasing the number of underrepresented minorities who earn Ph.D.s or M.D./Ph.D.s and pursue research careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This article examines the relationship between…