Comparing mentored research experiences for undergraduates across institutional contexts

Mentored undergraduate research experiences (UREs) can play a critical role in developing science identity and skills, especially for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. This study investigates science identity and responsibility for scientific roles among scholars in a program aiming to diversify the biomedical workforce. Scholars were placed in UREs at either their home institution (a minority-serving institution [MSI]) or at a research-intensive medical institution with a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

We analyze data from surveys administered annually to the scholars. We first compare changes in science identity for scholars placed at the MSI and the CTSA site from the term after the scholar started their URE to one year later. We then analyze differences in responsibility in scientific roles performed by scholars at the two institutions.

We found evidence of gains in science identity after a year for scholars placed at both institutions but of a somewhat larger magnitude at the CTSA site. However, no significant differences were observed across institutions on science identity at the endpoint. An exploration of scientific roles suggests that scholars at the CTSA site assumed more responsibility in roles related to data curation and analysis, while scholars at the MSI had higher responsibility for resource acquisition-related roles.

These results suggest that CTSA site URE placements may offer distinct opportunities for both identity formation and skill development beyond placements at home institutions. Overall, these results suggest opportunities for partnerships between MSIs and CTSA sites in the training of biomedical researchers.