Participating in research under the guidance of faculty mentors can increase undergraduate students’ skills, knowledge, and confidence in conducting scientific research and pursing a scientific career. The Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) in the US state of Oklahoma has established an infrastructure to develop future researchers and healthcare professionals by providing students with summer internships. However, long-term benefits have not typically been well quantified, and most prior investigations examining benefits and outcomes of undergraduate summer research experiences have been descriptive and/or observational in nature. To assess OK-INBRE summer program participants, educational and career outcomes were systematically tracked. Data for evaluation included 1) primary sources containing responses to learning surveys from OK-INBRE and national cohorts over a three-year period, and 2) secondary sources from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE), that track educational outcomes of Oklahoma students over a 15-year period. Frequency statistics were compiled and bivariate analyses were conducted to examine participant academic and career outcomes. Survey responses reported higher satisfaction in various dimensions of learning among OK-INBRE students than among corresponding national cohorts, particularly on dimensions of knowledge, skills, and understanding of sciences. The OSRHE data showed that, compared with those in the control group, there was a 100% increase in OK-INBRE participants who enrolled in or had completed a professional degree (e.g., MD/DO) and a 175% increase in students attending a biomedical science graduate program. These findings demonstrate the contribution of the OK-INBRE program in promoting science education and professions.

The Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) provides a formalized mentoring program and grant awards to new and early-stage faculty throughout Oklahoma. The OK-INBRE Research Project Investigator (RPI) award program has supported 30 faculty from both research-intensive universities and primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) over the past 15 years. To examine the impact of this program, we assessed the career trajectory of OK-INBRE RPI awardees and compared their productivity with a control group of applicants who applied for but did not receive an RPI award. A mixed-methods approach was employed to assess longitudinal programmatic impact. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to estimate the effect of an RPI award on faculty productivity, controlling for institutional affiliation. Key informant interviews were conducted to capture qualitative information about satisfaction and additional outcomes. OK-INBRE RPI awardees had a higher number in total and mean number of publications. In achieving extramural funding, RPI awardees were 12.5 times (p=0.005) as likely to receive a grant award of any type and 4.5 times (p=0.06) as likely to receive a subsequent federal grant as those in the control group. Many RPI awardees attributed their career success to OK-INBRE, but they also helped to identify barriers to advancement or productivity associated with their specific home institutions. The combined data indicate that OK-INBRE plays a significant role in launching new and early-stage investigators on a path towards independent research careers, which will in turn have a positive impact on the future of the biomedical research enterprise in Oklahoma.