Unequal Success: Race-Intentional Approach Reveals Divergent Asian and White Realities in STEM Mentoring

The model minority myth casts Asians as seamlessly integrated into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields through merit alone. This narrative often leads researchers to treat Asians as statistically similar to Whites or as a homogeneous group. Our study challenges this framing by examining how race is experienced within STEM mentoring relationships between undergraduates and their faculty or postgraduate mentors. We employ a race-intentional methodology with three components: (1) centering race consciousness in mentoring as a key indicator of racialized experience; (2) disaggregating Asian and White experiences; and (3) analyzing how race intersects with gender and power positioning (mentors vs. mentees). Using survey data from 709 participants in STEM research programs, we find that Asians generally report greater race consciousness than their White counterparts, with particularly heightened awareness among Asian women and nonbinary individuals. Asian undergraduate mentees report significantly more race consciousness than White mentees, but this disparity disappears at the mentor level. These findings expose critical flaws in both the meritocratic ideals of STEM and the model minority narrative-especially at a time when Asian achievement is increasingly being politically and legally weaponized to promote colorblind ideologies.