Exploring the long-term academic and career impacts of undergraduate research in geoscience: A case study

Gains and Losses in Virtual Mentorship: A Descriptive Case Study of Undergraduate Mentees and Graduate Mentors in STEM Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The survey responses corroborated previous findings that undergraduate students engage in research to learn technical skills and progress toward their career goals (Seymour et al, 2004;Beckman and Hensel, 2009;Fechheimer et al, 2011;Trott et al, 2020). Similarly, graduate mentor respondents had the expected goals of improving their own teaching and research productivity by serving as mentors (González, 2001;Dolan and Johnson, 2009;Limeri et al, 2019).…”

“…Some used this as an opportunity to mentor on aspects of research or career development that they had not previously emphasized, while others withdrew, not wanting to burden their mentees. Based on these findings, we recommend that graduate student mentors engaging in virtual mentorship focus the goals of the research experience to include understanding the usefulness of literature review, project design, and the scientific process (Hubbard and Dunbar, 2017;Symons et al, 2017;Sen et al, 2018) and emphasize development of both technical and transferable skills (Gregg et al, 2016;Menzel et al, 2019;Trott et al, 2020). It is also important that research goals and activities are clearly communicated with undergraduate mentees to ensure all parties have shared expectations.…”

“…The experiences of researchers at all levels during this time will have a lasting impact on research practices for years to come. Prior research has indicated that positive research experiences can encourage undergraduate students to pursue future STEM careers, while negative experiences have the potential to prompt students to leave STEM (Kendricks et al, 2019;Trott et al, 2020). Similarly, graduate students may gain confidence and develop professionally from mentoring experiences they perceive to be positive but may lose confidence if they feel that the mentorship was "unsuccessful."…”

“…This is critical because of the demonstrated role that research mentorship plays for both the undergraduate student mentee and the graduate student mentor. Participating in undergraduate research improves grade point averages, retention in STEM fields, graduation rates, and matriculation into graduate-level STEM programs, particularly for students with underrepresented identities (Byars-Winston and Dahlberg, 2019;Kendricks et al, 2019;Trott et al, 2020). Positive research experiences also promote nonacademic benefits, including improved self-confidence, intellectual curiosity, self-efficacy, and communication (Gregg et al, 2016;Kendricks et al, 2019;Trott et al, 2020).…”

Cultural capital in undergraduate research: an exploration of how biology students operationalize knowledge to access research experiences at a large, public research-intensive institution

“…Students have reported that participating in undergraduate research helps them gain an understanding of the research process, develop tolerance for obstacles, understand how knowledge is constructed, learn to integrate theory and practice, become a part of a learning community, and develop self-confidence (Lopatto, 2004(Lopatto, , 2007. Further, studies have demonstrated that participating in research can enhance student learning , as well as students' ability to think critically Ishiyama, 2002) and students' perceptions of career options (Trott, Sample McMeeking, Bowker, & Boyd, 2020). What is perhaps most impressive is the relationship between engaging in undergraduate research and students' persistence in science.…”