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This research-to-practice full paper describes a cohort-based undergraduate research program designed to improve STEM retention through structured mentoring and community building. Drawing on the Affinity Research Group (ARG) model, the program fosters faculty-student research collaboration and integrates faculty mentorship training, student-led peer mentoring, and structured interventions, such as research skills workshops and networking events. Each year, faculty from biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, and mathematics lead small-group research projects with recruited students who may participate for up to three years. Faculty and students receive ARG training to promote consistent mentoring practices. A credit-bearing, major-specific first-year orientation course supports recruitment and reinforces students’ scientific identity. Faculty also engage in professional development workshops to strengthen student-centered mentoring approaches. Data collection includes surveys, interviews, retention tracking, and weekly journaling to assess STEM identity, belonging, and skill development. External evaluators reviewed the faculty focus groups to assess mentoring effectiveness. Initial findings show strong faculty engagement with the ARG model, with many adopting adaptive mentoring strategies that enhance student support. Students report increased confidence and belonging within their disciplines. However, cross-disciplinary collaboration remains limited, highlighting the need for more intentional networking within the cohort. Students also emphasized the value of peer collaboration alongside faculty mentorship. These results suggest that undergraduate research can serve as a powerful tool for building community and supporting persistence in STEM. Ongoing efforts will focus on expanding networking opportunities, strengthening peer collaboration, and evaluating long-term impacts on student retention.
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Using a Structured Research Framework to Improve Mentoring Capacity in a Biophysics Research Lab
ABSTRACT Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) cultivate workforce skills, such as critical thinking, project management, and scientific communication. Many UREs in biophysical research have constraints related to limited resources, often resulting in smaller student cohorts, barriers for students entering a research environment, and fewer mentorship opportunities for graduate students. In response to those limitations, we have created a structured URE model that uses an asynchronous training style paired with direct-tiered mentoring delivered by peers, graduate students, and faculty. The adaptive undergraduate research training and experience (AURTE) framework was piloted as part of the Brown Experiential Learning program, a computational biophysics research lab. The program previously demonstrated substantial increases and improvements in the number of students served and skills developed. Here, we discuss the long-term effectiveness of the framework, impacts on graduate and undergraduate students, and efficacy in teaching research skills and computational-based biophysical methods. The longitudinal impact of our structured URE on student outcomes was analyzed by using student exit surveys, interviews, assessments, and 5 years of feedback from alumni. Results indicate high levels of student retention in research compared with university-wide metrics. Also, student feedback emphasizes how tiered mentoring enhanced research skill retention, while allowing graduate mentors to develop mentorship and workforce skills to expedite research. Responses from alumni affirm that workforce-ready skills (communicating science, data management, and scientific writing) acquired in the program persisted and were used in postgraduate careers. The framework reinforces the importance of establishing, iterating, and evaluating a structured URE framework to foster student success in biophysical research, while promoting mentorship skill training for graduate students. Future work will explore the adaptability of the framework in wet lab environments and probe the potential of AURTE in broader educational contexts.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2237521
- PAR ID:
- 10552278
- Publisher / Repository:
- The Biophysicist
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Biophysicist
- ISSN:
- 2578-6970
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.35459/tbp.2024.000271
