Contextual Factors and Psychological Mechanisms that Support or Disrupt Biomedical Career Pathways

项目摘要 许多学生带着对学习科学的兴趣进入大学，但最终追求的是其他学科。 少校其他人毕业于科学专业，但未能进入或留在生物医学专业。 劳动力科学之外的许多途径导致了生物医学领域的短缺。 劳动力，特别是妇女、代表性不足的少数民族和第一代 (FG)大学生在生物医学领域的持久性研究中， 考虑心理机制参与持久性和理解 如何围绕这些机制设计经验或机构支持。我的研究 该计划解决了这一差距，检查持久性在生物医学领域使用 心理透镜，重点是动机轨迹和背景支持。 在接下来的5年里，我将重点关注两个关键的开放性问题：（1）什么样的发展模式 的动机信念是适应持久性的生物医学职业道路， 适应模式在具有不同特征的个体之间变化（例如，URM，FG， 性别）？（2）如何在大学期间提高情境支持，重点是 动机信念作为中介机制，以保留更多的个人对生物医学 职业道路，特别是那些代表性不足的群体？此MIRA应用程序旨在 利用和扩展我广泛的多站点，多方法的纵向研究， 持续收集定量和定性纵向数据， 职业生涯的下一个阶段（大学毕业后立即和大学毕业后5年以上） 来自两个独特的大学样本：（1）大型，赠地公立大学（密歇根州立大学） 大学，N = 1735; 57%女性; 11% URM; 12% FG）和（2）精英私立大学（杜克， N = 2546; 54%女性; 19% URM; 9% FG）。此外，为了扩大这些的普遍性， 第三个独特的大学背景下，灵活地追求研究问题的基础上， 从原始队列的结果，数据收集将扩大到旧自治领大学， 为少数民族服务的公共机构（41%的少数民族管理机构，28%的少数民族自治机构）。最后，一种替代方法， 将继续解决生物医学领域的持久性问题，即研究培训如何 未来的教师，以支持学生的动机和参与的背景下，丰富的课程 机会与他们后来支持学生动机的方法有关， 订婚影响：这项正在进行的研究计划将提供对类型的关键见解 环境支持和心理机制， 生物医学科学职业的持久性，特别是在妇女，URMs和FG中。

Project Summary Many students enter college with an interest in studying science, but ultimately pursue other majors. Others graduate with a science major, but fail to enter or remain in the biomedical workforce. The many pathways out of science contribute to shortages in the biomedical workforce, particularly among women, underrepresented minorities (URMs), and first-generation (FG) college students. What is often missing in the study of persistence in biomedical fields is a consideration of the psychological mechanisms involved in persistence and an understanding of how to design experiences or institutional supports around such mechanisms. My research program addresses this gap by examining persistence in the biomedical fields using a psychological lens, with a focus on motivational trajectories and contextual supports. Over the next 5 years, I will focus on two key open questions: (1) What developmental patterns of motivational beliefs are adaptive for persistence in biomedical career pathways and do adaptive patterns vary across individuals with different characteristics (e.g., URM, FG, Gender)?, and (2) How can we improve contextual supports during college, focusing on motivational beliefs as a mediating mechanism, in order to retain more individuals on biomedical career pathways, especially those from underrepresented groups? This MIRA application aims to leverage and extend my extensive multi-site, multi-method longitudinal research by continuing quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data collection as research participants reach the next phases in their career pathways (immediately after college and >5 years after college) from two unique university samples: (1) large, land-grant public university (Michigan State University, N = 1735; 57% Female; 11% URM; 12% FG) and (2) elite, private university (Duke, N = 2546; 54% Female; 19% URM; 9% FG). Additionally, to extend the generalizability of these findings to a third unique university context and to flexibly pursue research questions based on findings from the original cohorts, data collection will be extended to Old Dominion University, a public, minority-serving institution (41% URM, 28% FG). Finally, an alternative approach for addressing persistence in biomedical fields will be pursued, namely examining how training future faculty to support student motivation and engagement in the context of enriched curricular opportunities relates to their later approaches to supporting student motivation and engagement. IMPACT: This on-going research program will provide key insights into the types of contextual supports and psychological mechanisms that are needed to encourage persistence in biomedical science careers, especially among women, URMs, and FGs.