Investigating the relationship between participation in the building infrastructure leading to diversity (BUILD) initiative and intent to pursue a science career: A cross-sectional analysis

Hector V Ramos; Krystle P Cobian; Jayashri Srinivasan; Christina A Christie; Catherine M Crespi; Teresa Seeman

doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2023.102380

Investigating the relationship between participation in the building infrastructure leading to diversity (BUILD) initiative and intent to pursue a science career: A cross-sectional analysis

Eval Program Plann. 2024 Feb:102:102380. doi: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2023.102380. Epub 2023 Oct 12.

Authors

Hector V Ramos¹, Krystle P Cobian², Jayashri Srinivasan², Christina A Christie³, Catherine M Crespi², Teresa Seeman²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Electronic address: hvramos@ucla.edu.
² Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
³ School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of survey data to examine the association between supervised structured mentoring and students' intent to pursue a career in science. Data were collected from students in the 10 Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) research training programs, developed through grants from the National Institutes of Health. Propensity score matching and multinomial logistic regression demonstrated that exposure to BUILD programs-meaning participation in undergraduate research, receipt of mentoring from a primary mentor, and/or participation as a funded scholar and/or associate of each BUILD site's training program-was associated with increased intent to pursue a science career. These findings have implications for STEM program evaluation and practice in higher education.

Keywords: Mentoring; STEM; Science education; Undergraduate research; Underrepresented groups.

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Mentoring*
Mentors
Minority Groups* / education
Program Evaluation

Grants and funding

U54 GM119024/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States