Incorporation of responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education into course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) remains largely unexplored despite the importance of RECR practices to the broader scientific enterprise. To address this concern, a mixed methods approach was employed to characterize the state of RECR education in biological sciences CUREs nationwide.

Growing concern exists about the prevalence of mental illness in graduate education, which has been associated with a lack of mentorship from graduate students' advisors combined with significant levels of fiscal and emotional stress commonly associated with the pursuit of a graduate degree. This prevalence is often further exacerbated in minoritized graduate student populations due to the constructs of racism, sexism, and microaggressions in academic contexts. In response to this concern, we offered a four-part Critical Conversations workshop aimed at undergraduate students (n = 17) in the ACSScellence program at our institution, a research-intensive experience designed to prepare Hispanic/Latinx students for graduate studies in STEM. Specifically, through an interactive journal club, we discussed the importance of: (1) cultural awareness; (2) the advisor selection process; (3) identity-constructs and mental health; and (4) how to deal with microaggressions in academia. Data obtained from student responses to one-minute paper prompts and open-ended questionnaires were used to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Content analyses indicated that students (76% or more per category) developed an increased awareness of what constitutes a healthy mentoring relationship, strategies to maintain work-life balance in research positions, and socio-cultural competence as a result of participating in the workshop.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) seek to engage students in the authentic process of scientific discovery. Current evidence in the literature suggests that participation in CUREs results in significant increases in students' development of scientific reasoning skills and experimental design abilities. While these outcomes are noteworthy, relatively few studies have examined and assessed potential mechanisms for connecting student-initiated research endeavors within CURE contexts to the broader community. In order to address these concerns, we conducted a quasi-experimental, mixed methods study to evaluate the impact of a civic engagementinfused "Health Disparities in the Border Region" CURE on students' (n = 17) development of public outreach skills, researcher self-efficacy, and understanding of research-community connections. Results indicated a significant, pre-/post-semester increase in students' ability to identify and describe the relationship between components of a public health outreach plan (p ≤ 0.039 for all analyses), as measured via the Public Health Outreach Flowchart assessment. Analysis of student responses to the Persistence in the Sciences (PITS) questionnaire further revealed a positive, pre-/post-semester shift in participants' researcher self-efficacy (p = 0.004), with students (68.8%) noting the importance of their research in engaging the public around relevant healthcare issues within the community.