STEM Workforce Development Progressions of Skill Development in Biology Doctorates
Effective Years: 2014-2019
The University of Utah will conduct a collaborative project with the University of Virginia to determine how research skills are developed in graduate students. The significance of the study lies in the fact that the goal of graduate education is to prepare a highly-skilled workforce, not just a credentialed one. Skills are, thus, central to both the process of graduate education and the value of degrees in the labor market. However, skill development is a poorly understood aspect of graduate education. The project will, therefore, demonstrate how interactions among knowledge and skill, socialization experiences, and motivation play out over time. In addition, it will provide novel insights into racial/ethnic inequalities in graduate school trajectories and outcomes. This has been a missing link in previous research about the issue of inequality. Understanding how skills are developed over time and how they interact with relevant motivational constructs can optimize the creation of training experiences that both maximize students? skill development and reduce inequality by identifying the key predictors of success and the pivotal points in the progression of Ph.D. programs. The investigators will use a Social Cognitive Theory framework in combination with the socialization framework to conduct a longitudinal study of 280 new Ph.D. matriculants in the biological sciences. The specific aims are to: (1) Develop a longitudinal dataset that includes performance-based skill data and socialization/training experiences, and test specific hypotheses regarding skill development. (2) Determine whether skill development trajectories vary across racial/ethnic and gender groups and contribute to inequalities in graduate school outcomes, and test hypotheses regarding skill trajectories. (3) Use insights from the findings to propose interventions to improve skill development during graduate school and decrease racial/ethnic and gender inequality in student experiences and outcomes. The creation of a unique dataset that includes performance-based repeated measures of skills over multiple years of doctoral training, in conjunction with measures of motivation and types of socialization experiences, will provide the foundational context to generate and test theoretical advancements in graduate education.
25 Publications Related to This Project:
- Support Without Status: Inequities in Student–Advisor Relational Dynamics Between First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Doctoral Students
- Understanding the Transient Nature of STEM Doctoral Students' Research Self-Efficacy Across Time: Considering the Role of Gender, Race, and First-Generation College Status
- Cumulative Advantage in the Skill Development of STEM Graduate Students: A Mixed-Methods Study
- Social Predictors of Doctoral Student Mental Health and Well-Being
- (Re)Shaping the Socialization of Scientific Labs: Understanding Women's Doctoral Experiences in STEM Lab Rotations
- Finding a Fit: Biological Science Doctoral Students' Selection of a Principal Investigator and Research Laboratory
- Identifying Faculty and Peer Interaction Patterns of First-Year Biology Doctoral Students: A Latent Class Analysis
- Time-to-Credit Gender Inequities of First-Year PHD Students in the Biological Sciences
- Balancing Research and Service in Academia: Gender, Race, and Laboratory Tasks
- Inequalities in Becoming a Scholar: Race, Gender and Student-Advisor Relationships in Doctoral Education
- Beyond Technical Mastery: Inequality in Doctoral Research Skill Development in the Biological Sciences
- After the PHD: The Role of Advisors and Social Connections in the Job Search Process
- Mentoring Relationships Between Doctoral Students and Postdocs in the Lab Sciences
- Socialization Experiences and Research Productivity of Asians and Pacific Islanders: Model Minority Stereotype and Domestic vs. International Comparison
- Doctoral Conceptual Thresholds in Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Autonomy and Privilege in Doctoral Education: An Analysis of STEM Students' Academic and Professional Trajectories
- First-Generation Students in Pursuit of the PHD: Comparinel Socialization Experiences and Outcomes to Contiriuing-Generation Peers
- Postdocs' Lab Engagement Predicts Trajectories of PHD Students' Skill Development
- Null Effects of Boot Camps and Short-Format Training for PHD Students in Life Sciences
- Who is Publishing Journal Articles During Graduate School? Racial and Gender Inequalities in Biological Sciences Over Time
- Detecting Threshold Concepts Through Bayesian Knowledge Tracing: Examining Research Skill Development in Biological Sciences at the Doctoral Level
- Shifting Gears: Characteristics and Consequences of Latent Class Transitions in Doctoral Socialization
- Breaking Points: Exploring How Negative Doctoral Advisor Relationships Develop Over Time
- Unequal Expectations: First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Students' Anticipated Relationships with Doctoral Advisors in STEM
- Student and Advisor Gender Identity in STEM Doctoral Programs: Examining Longitudinal and Mediating Effects with Latent Growth Models
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