Understanding the context and appreciating the complexity of evaluating the Diversity Program Consortium.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research workforce diversity
• Inclusive excellence in STEM
• National-scale scientific workforce development

Background:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invested in the Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) to foster inclusive excellence.
• Understanding how to increase diversity in the NIH-funded workforce requires a scientific approach.
• This chapter contextualizes a complex, consortium-wide evaluation study.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of the context for the Diversity Program Consortium's evaluation study.
• To help readers understand the complexity of the evaluation.
• To set the stage for a detailed examination of interventions aimed at increasing workforce diversity.

Main Methods:

• This chapter focuses on the contextual background of the evaluation.
• It describes the scale and scope of the evaluation effort.
• It highlights the unique nature of this study within NIH history.

Main Results:

• The evaluation is the first of its kind in NIH history.
• It is a large-scale, national, systemic, and longitudinal study.
• It examines harmonized interventions in undergraduate biomedical research training.

Conclusions:

• The Diversity Program Consortium represents a significant NIH investment in workforce diversity.
• The evaluation study is unprecedented in its scope and methodology.
• Understanding the context is crucial for interpreting the study's findings on inclusive excellence.