Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career barriers persist for individuals from marginalized communities due to financial and educational inequality, unconscious bias, and other disadvantaging factors. To evaluate differences in plans and interests between historically underrepresented (UR) and well-represented (WR) groups, we surveyed more than 3000 undergraduates enrolled in chemistry courses. Survey responses showed all groups arrived on campus with similar interests in learning more about science research. Over the 4 years of college, WR students maintained their interest levels, but UR students did not, creating a widening gap between the groups. Without intervention, UR students participated in lab research at lower rates than their WR peers. A case study pilot program, Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement (BioCoRE), encouraged STEM research exploration by undergraduates from marginalized communities. BioCoRE provided mentoring and programming that increased community cohesion and cultivated students’ intrinsic scientific mindsets. Our data showed that there was no statistical significant difference between BioCoRE WR and UR students when surveyed about plans for a medical profession, graduate school, and laboratory scientific research. In addition, BioCoRE participants reported higher levels of confidence in conducting research than non-BioCoRE Scholars. We now have the highest annual number of UR students moving into PhD programs in our institution’s history.

Vol. 21, No. 2

June 01, 2022

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History

Submitted: 4 June 2020

Revised: 18 January 2022

Accepted: 31 January 2022

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© 2022 D. S. Jones et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2022 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0).

We thank the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences for funding the majority of this work through their IMSD program (NIH R25 GM103765: Program to Support Student Development and Diversity in Duke Biosciences). The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Merck Foundation, Bayer Foundation, and Trent Foundation are thanked for additional support of the BioCoRE program and related scientific programming activities. We thank Farrell Kersey and Daniel Fowler for distribution of the online surveys to chemistry laboratory students. Daquille Campbell, Sherri Fulp, and Dwayne Whittington from Strategic Evaluations, Inc. (SEI), our external evaluator for this program, are thanked for their contributions to understanding the effectiveness of our program’s components. We are grateful for the efforts of Hyriea Ibraimov, Kimberly McLean, and Deborah Martin in their administrative work on this program. We thank Ken Kruzer, Julie Reynolds, and Dona Chikaraishi for their work on the BioCoRE program during its initial years.

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