Increasing Success for Underrepresented Minorities in Science

HERI Brown BagImproving the Rate of Success for Underrepresented Racial Minorities in the Biological and Behavioral Sciences: Insights from a National Project NSF/NIH Research Team February 12, 2009

Targeted Institutions and Participants • Minority serving institutions (MSIs) • Institutions that produce large numbers of minority baccalaureates in the sciences (Top 50) • MARC/MBRS/MORE/PREP program institutions—includes PWIs and MSIs • Other types of institutions to round out the sample (liberal arts colleges, private universities) • Three-part matched sample: URM students in STEM, White & Asian American students in STEM, and URM students in non-STEM majors

Research Plan: Key Components Completed • CIRP Freshman Survey (Summer/Fall 2004) • YFCY End of First Year Survey--160 institutions in working sample (Spring 2005) • Classroom-based surveys of introductory courses at 5 institutions in Year 3 (2006-2007) • Campus Case Studies: Focus groups and institutional site visits at 5 institutions in Year 3 (2006-2007). • Four-year follow-up: College Senior Survey in Year 4 (2007-2008) • Non-response recovery of CSS in Year 5 (2008-2009)

Research Plan: Key Components To Come • Best Practices Survey in Year 5 • Focus groups and post-baccalaureate survey development in Year 6 (2009-2010) • Post-baccalaureate survey (PBS) in Year 7 (2010-2011) • Telephone response recover of PBS in Year 8 (2011-2012)

Phase II: First-year follow-up (YFCY) - Predictors of participating in health science research (published in RHE) • Positive predictors of participation in health science research include: • Taking first-year experience courses • Participating in departmental clubs • Receiving advice from upper-division students • Having frequent interactions/contact with faculty • Attending an institution that offers a structured research opportunity for first-year students • Sub-sample of Black students showed similar results, yet social self-concept, participation in a learning community, and positive interactions across race/ethnicity were key

Phase II: First-Year Follow-Up: Stereotype Threat: Undermining the Persistence of Racial Minority Freshmen in the Sciences • Examined how the interaction of stigmatizing experiences and identification with a biomedical and behavioral science (BBS) majors affects the likelihood of persisting in a BBS major through the first year • Analyses – HGLM, factor analyses, interaction effects • Results show URM freshmen more susceptible to negative effects of stereotype threat (reported high levels of both domain identification and stigma-inducing experiences) were significantly less likely to persist in their initial science major

Phase II: First-Year Follow-Up: Stereotype Threat: Undermining the Persistence of Racial Minority Freshmen in the Sciences

Phase II: First-Year Follow-Up: Developing Student and Faculty Support Networks Preliminary Findings BackgroundCharacteristics(demographics) Participationin first-year programs CollegeCharacteristics Faculty andstudent supportnetworks HSAcademics CollegeAcademics College SocialActivities HSSocial activities

Phase II: First-Year Follow-Up: Developing Student and Faculty Support Networks Preliminary Findings (Student Support)

Phase II: First-Year Follow-Up: Developing Student and Faculty Support Networks Preliminary Findings (Faculty Support)

Phase III:Classroom Based Study – Classroom Questionnaires • Classroom Questionnaires (pre & post): • Two online surveys focused on critical thinking dispositions and habits of mind for scientific research • Sample consisted of 2-3 introductory science/math courses per campus • Targeted approximately 2,400 undergraduates currently enrolled in introductory science course • Pre-Survey response rate of 26% • Longitudinal response rate of 44% (pre-survey as baseline) • Merged final grades with survey data

Phase III: Classroom Based StudyPreliminary Findings • Effects on GPA • Learning to think more analytically (+) • Feeling overwhelmed by coursework (-) • Bring an underrepresented minority student (-) • Effects on “thinking like a scientist” • Saw real-life application of learning (+) • Inquisitiveness (+) • Truth-seeking (+) • Feeling overwhelmed by coursework (-)

Phase III: Campus Site VisitsDiversifying Science: Underrepresented Student Experiences in Structured Research Programs • Becoming a scientist • In the teaching lab…I mean, you run an experiment and it always works. It’s so nice. It always works. You take biochem lab, you take genetics lab, and you do it, and man, it’s going to work. It’s been done 50,000 times in the lab… People who have never been in a research lab, I think the first time your experiment fails, it’s kind of like a shock to everyone. It’s kind of like, “What?” Yeah, it makes you learn how to think… (UTSA female)

Findings: Becoming a Scientist (cont.) Phase III: Campus Site VisitsBecoming a Scientist (continued) • Scientific self-efficacy through research • I had a good experience with my PIs [principal investigators] just because they made me feel like…as an undergrad, you kind of feel like on the bottom of the food chain and they kind of believe in you and say, “Yes, you can do this. I’m giving you this project to do and I know you can do it.”So it kind of builds your confidence and just them believing in you makes you feel like you can actually complete the project because you can. (UNM female)

Phase III: Campus Site VisitsCulture of Science • Collaborative • It seems like at Xavier, the people have a mentality…like the sharing mentality, so if you’re not…if you don’t share or if you’re not…if you’re thinking about number one, they kind of shun you to the side. I mean, because everyone else is in the group and [if] you think you can work better on your own, we’ll let you work on your own. That’s how it is here. (Xavier female) • Competitive • …you start getting to know everyone in the department or in the classes that you’re taking,so you’re almost embarrassed to do poorly in class, so you work harder. Like you’re driven to work harder because you want to be a good student and you want to succeed. (UNM female)

Phase III: Campus Site VisitsSocial Stigma • Racial stigma and research opportunities • I worked with an Anglo girl who was there and basically paid her way there and the only reason she was there is because she knew someone who knew someone, and I told her, “Oh, I’m in this…minority summer research program,” and she’s like, “Yeah, well, you’re lucky you’re a minority, you could say that on a piece of paper so you could get in.” (UNM female) • Racial stigma and scientific self-efficacy • [B]ecause I am a minority student, I feel as if I need the validation. Anybody else would not need it. You know, nobody else has this feeling of, “You know what? My opinions aren’t going to be listened to…unless I get the PhD.” (MIT male)

Phase III: Campus Site VisitsAdministrator Interviews – Preliminary Findings • Administrator interviews (two to four per campus) • Interviews covered areas relating to program administration, student recruitment, and campus support for programs • Participants included program administrators and affiliated faculty • Culture of Science • The academic/research environment in which science is conducted at the institution • Preliminary findings reveal that URM students' perceptions of competitive environments negatively impact persistence in the major and grad. school aspirations “It’s so competitive here that if anybody has a little bit of information that will give them a leg up, they won’t share it with [other students].” “I knew it was competitive. Everybody wants to get into graduate school, medical school, get a job... You have no idea… It’s so competitive that it’s borderline cutthroat... It’s interesting, the campus culture that is around now in 2007. It’s a lot different than when I was here in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Phase IV: College Senior Survey and Faculty Survey • Summer/Fall 2007 • Finalized instruments and protocols • Recruited and confirm participation of institutions • Spring 2008 • Administered the College Senior Survey • Summer and Fall 2008 • Expanded project sample to include science, technology, engineering and math majors with additional funding from NSF • Collected registrar’s data from more than 200 institutions • Administered 2007 Faculty Survey to supplemental sample of STEM faculty at our participating institutions (6,636 STEM faculty responded from 205 institutions) • Longitudinal sample (Freshman Survey and CSS) • 6,373 students at 240 institutions

Next Steps for the Coming Year • Collect student enrollment/completion data from the National Student Clearing House • Create response weights for the CSS • Create factors from CSS and Faculty Survey for key constructs of interest • Administer the Best Practices Survey to participating institutions

Academic Papers • The pre-college characteristics and experiences of minority students committed to scientific research careers (2006). Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 12, 61-83. • Predicting transition and adjustment to college: Minority biomedical and behavioral science students’ first year of college. (2007) Research in Higher Education, 48(7), 841-887. • Training future scientists: Predicting first-year minority student participation in health science research. Research in Higher Education. (2008). Research in Higher Education, 49(2), 126-152. • The contradictory roles of institutional status in retaining underrepresented minorities in biomedical and behavioral science majors. (2008). The Review of Higher Education, 31(4), 433-464. • Diversifying science: Underrepresented student experiences in structured research programs. (2009). Research in Higher Education, 50(2), 189-214.

RESOURCES & Project Staff RESEARCH STAFF Sylvia Hurtado, Co-PI Mitch Chang, Co-PI Graduate Research Assistants Kevin Eagan Lorelle Espinosa Monica Lin Christopher Newman Jessica Sharkness Minh Tran Paolo Velasco Administrative Support Aaron Pearl • Papers and reports are available for download from project website • Project email: herinih@ucla.edu • Project website: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/nih

Increasing Success for Underrepresented Minorities in Science