There have been large increases in the number of STEM graduates in the United States, but the majority of growth in non-healthcare, career opportunities are limited to computer specialists and engineering. Thus, two challenges await STEM students upon graduation: strong competition and employer concerns that applicants lack general competencies and work experience. Universities have responded to employer concerns with initiatives to enhance career readiness by embedding sets of competencies throughout curricula. However, these competencies have not been situated in STEM contexts and are derived largely from surveys of representatives from large companies who are unfamiliar with the job requirements specific to STEM positions. The current study uses a mixed methods approach as a first step to investigate the National Association of Colleges and Employers Career-Readiness Competencies in STEM with alumni who have participated in UREs and are currently employed in STEM careers. We propose that institutions can simultaneously situate skill development in STEM and provide meaningful, work-like experience through undergraduate research experiences (UREs). Findings demonstrate that UREs provide a fertile ground for the integration of career related competencies into undergraduate curricula and suggest institutions should strategically implement career-readiness competencies that reflect the priorities of STEM employers.   Keywords: STEM, career readiness, NACE competencies, alumni, undergraduate research experiences, employment

This investigation analyzes an original data set administered to undergraduate STEM majors (n=961) across 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The results of this investigation assessed limitations in the psychometric evaluation of HBCU students,identified broader trends in identity formation among HBCU students, and described variation in these trends between HBCUs. Using ordinal Omega (Green & Yang, 2009) to assess reliability, we found that two previously reliable scales (i.e., sense of belonging in STEM and self-regulation) were distinctly unreliable in the HBCU context. A latent profile analysis (Gibson 1959) using the two reliable scales (i.e., STEM identity and scientific literacy) found respondents could be grouped into three different classes. Together, these findings suggest better psychometric measures (reliable in the HBCU context) must be identified. Future research will consider the scope of STEM students’ affective characteristics, as they may be impactful targets of academic interventions, and how they may change as students successfully matriculate.