Lessons Learned in Implementing an Aging Research Training Program for Underrepresented Minority Students

Introduction

In 2016, the NIH proposed to build research capacity to reduce health disparities by promoting the development of interinstitutional partnerships between historically research-intensive institutions, and historically minority-serving institutions that seek to build research infrastructure (NIH Health Disparities Strategic Research Plan and Budget, p. 18). Our South Carolina-Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (SC-ADAR) program has taken this path, working in partnership with South Carolina-based Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to recruit URM scholars and to provide research training in medicine, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (MSTEM) and aging. HBCU partners have included Claflin University, Benedict College, South Carolina State University, Allen University, and Morris College. Over the last two years, we have expanded our recruitment efforts to include Voorhees College (Denmark, SC) and North Carolina A&T University (Greensboro, NC).

Specific program objectives are as follows:

Recruiting HBCU undergraduates majoring in MSTEM, specifically rising juniors, to participate in two summers of research training, as part of a comprehensive 24-month research education approach.

Lesson 1: Expanding Recruitment to Respond to the Emerging Preferences of Students is Key

To build on the growing number of applicants interested in the role of technology in enhancing the lives of older adults, we formally incorporated a new training component to the program in the area of technology and aging. While we had offered mentored lab experiences in computer sciences and engineering from the outset of the program, we realized that we could greatly expand our recruitment pool by strengthening this aspect of the program. We recruited an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science from Claflin University, a participating HBCU, who served as core SC-ADAR faculty, leading the recruitment of students from computer sciences and engineering, and also providing coursework in this area. This additional focus expanded our recruitment reach and resulted in a significant expansion in the pool of qualified students applying to the program.

Lesson 2: Involvement of Current and Former Students in Recruitment Outreach is Important

Another mid-course correction was in the recruitment process. At the outset, SC-ADAR faculty and staff served as our key recruiters, visiting the participating HBCUs and providing overviews of the program to potential applicants. Our HBCU faculty coordinators arranged times for University of South Carolina (UofSC) faculty to present to classes and campus organizations comprised of students interested in pursuing careers in MSTEM. After the first year or two of program funding, second-year students volunteered to assist with recruitment, and we developed a formal role for them, that of program Ambassadors. These Ambassadors received an honorarium to work with the HBCU program coordinator to help organize a time to bring students together to hear about the SC-ADAR research training program and to take questions they might have. We believe our student Ambassadors contributed significantly to the increased number of applicants for the program, as well as contributed to the student Ambassadors’ self-efficacy as successful students in MSTEM.

Our Student Ambassadors, now including both second-year students, as well as former students who have graduated from the program, often continue to play a role in the SC-ADAR program even after they have left their undergraduate HBCU. One former scholar (currently a second-year medical student at the Medical UofSC who served as a program Ambassador offered the following comments:

It was an amazing opportunity to recruit my peers towards a program that had given me so much benefit! I think I was able to reach more students because I was more so on their level than program faculty. It was easier to create casual conversation and answer questions about the perks of being a SC-ADAR scholar because of my experience and not so long ago having been in their shoes.

Lesson 3: Adjusting Inclusion Criteria may be Necessary

While we were successful in reaching our initial recruitment targets, we did need to make adjustments to our initial recruitment criteria. After our first few summer programs, several UofSC faculty mentors commented that the lack of adequate academic preparation of some of the students accepted into the program prevented their ability to engage in basic research study tasks, even though these students had qualified for the program participation based on eligibility criteria that included having a 3.0 GPA. Based on the recommendations of these faculty mentors, we added additional inclusion criteria in the recruitment process to assure basic skills in reading comprehension, the ability to synthesize the literature, and writing. To assess these competencies, we gave applicants a short reading as part of the in-person or remote (after the onset of COVID 19) interview and asked them to respond in writing or email to two out of five questions, which they handed in or submitted online prior to ending the interview. This helped significantly in identifying students who were better prepared academically to successfully engage in the research training.

Lesson 4: Enhancing Academic and Professional Development Skills is Foundational

To provide more academic skill building, we added three specific courses: Academic Writing, offered by a doctoral student; Critical Reading of Literature, offered by an Assistant Professor; and GRE/MCAT Preparation, offered by our university Test Prep Services.

The Academic Writing course was added to course offerings in response to feedback from UofSC faculty mentors about the need for students to enhance their academic writing skills, as part of their preprofessional development. A College of Social Work (COSW) doctoral student tailored an existing writing course developed by a COSW faculty member specifically for our second-year SC-ADAR students to improve their academic writing skills in preparation for their post-undergraduate plans. SC-ADAR students completed the course with several deliverables, including a draft of their resume/CV, personal statement, and a shortlist of graduate schools to which they planned to apply (McRell et al., 2021). The culminating activity for the Acadmic Writing course is a group peer review, where the instructor and students provide feedback to everyone's personal statements and other writing assignments for which students wished feeback. The doctoral student often continues mentoring the students after completion of the summer program as they navigate the graduate school application process. One student described their experiences in the writing class as follows:

I like how they incorporated the writing class because as a rising senior at the time, I know that I needed to complete my graduate school application and just different things that gave me an extra push to start off the academic year with (McRell et al., 2021).

Another student added

If it wasn’t for [the writing class and the professional development class] I wouldn’t even have applied early to my programs because by me actually doing my personal statement and taking the GRE…in August I didn’t feel overwhelmed like some of my other classmates. So, I was already steps ahead…. (McRell et al., 2021, p. 5).

The Critical Reading of the Literature course was developed in response to strong feedback from both UofSC faculty mentors and our students on the students’ need for additional support in reading and analyzing the academic literature. Reading academic literature is a skill with which many of our students struggle.. Given analytical reading of the literature is usually not formally taught to students, it is understandable that students might encounter challenges in applying the literature to their own research project or paper. In efforts to help students develop this skill, we merged critical reading content into our Research Methods Seminar course, facilitated by a COSW Clinical Associate Professor. The students were assigned scientific articles to read, which were then discussed in the seminar, with the facilitator helping the students to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the articles, and what kinds of conclusions could be made based on the methods presented. Later in the course, students were then tasked with bringing in one research article related to their SC-ADAR research lab and conducting a similar analysis. As compared to using research scenarios created solely for the classroom, the use of published scientific articles fostered deeper student engagement with the content through real-world application. This approach not only challenged students to better understand foundational research methods, but also to better appreciate the complexities of conducting research. We found that students were challenged by these activities, but that it also led to increased comfort and ability with reading scientific articles, identifying and understanding the strengths of diferent research methods, and thinking critically about the literature. Providing students with more opportunities to develop this skill under less pressurized circumstances could prove to be an impactful solution. We anticipate this foundation will be an asset to students in their future graduate or medical school experiences.

GRE/MCAT Preparation was a universally requested program addition. We successfully partnered with the UofSC Test Prep services to provide both GRE and MCAT test prep for our students. The course is offered online, asynchronous and self-paced, so students are able to prepare for their respective tests, while still meeting their obligations for the SC-ADAR program. The sessions are facilitated by expert instructors with vast knowledge of the requisite tests. Students are also provided with a course workbook and the official textbook from Educational Testing Services, which also has actual questions used in prior exams.

There was agreement among all students on how the academic and professional development skills they developed during their SC-ADAR summer experience were foundational to their growth and development as MSTEM and aging scholars. The following quotation is exemplary:

The program was vital in providing me research experience and as a result, strong letters of recommendation. I was provided with long term research and program mentors that truly experienced my strengths as a scholar and were able to attest to that during my application process. My letters of recommendation were commented on by several interviewers from different institutions as being one of the strongest points of my application.

Lesson 5: Mentored Laboratory Experience is Critical for Building Research Skills

While all accepted students expressed interest in pursuing a research career in MSTEM and aging on their applications, it was clear from the outset that the majority of applicants had not seriously considered this specific career focus, but viewed this research training program as an opportunity to receive one-on-one mentoring in research labs, directly addressing their stated desire to participate in a lab experience for application to graduate and professional schools.

For most of the students participating in this program, this experience is the first time they are involved in the actual processes of scientific research. Besides becoming familiar with basic research activities particular to the mentor’s specific discipline, faculty mentors report that our students seem to benefit substantively from the social environment of a research lab. In most of the labs, a student typically gets a “mentor network,” rather than a sole mentor, where the primary faculty mentor, together with postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and senior undergraduate students in their labs, provide individual as well as joint feedback and support (Montgomery & Page, 2018). One faculty mentor noted that “receiving feedback is important for their development of research skills and the laboratory is a good place for this constellation of mentors to provide feedback and examples about how to act and think in specific research settings.”

The laboratory setting also provides natural opportunities for students to improve research-related communication skills, such as asking a question, writing a summary of their project, or reporting the work in which they participated, an ability that several faculty mentors identified as critical in becoming a mature researcher. Through regular lab meetings, the student often gets to practice both talking about their work or themselves informally, as well as formally presenting or reporting their work. Some faculty noticed that our students in the beginning “were hesitant in giving a presentation, slowly learned how to prepare, and gradually through practice became comfortable in doing it.” At the end of two summers of lab experience, many students reported a renewed confidence in their abilities to succeed as a researcher, that “if I prepare I know I will do a good job.” With the support of these faculty mentors, several students presented their research work at regional and national conferences, with multiple fellows earning recognition for their research posters and presentation skills.

“Part of our job is to hold the mirror,” is an analogy used by a faculty mentor.

Sometimes we do need to adjust the mirror in order to amplify certain messages or tailor the learning experience to each individual’s needs, which might mean providing additional support in networking, making decisions about career paths, or finding funds for attending a conference.

Lesson 6: Journaling can Deepen Students’ Understanding of Aging Issues

Early on we realized that more needed to be offered than providing aging-related content in courses for students to be inspired to actually pursue a career in aging-related MSTEM research. From the program outset, we incorporated journaling activities, which mostly focused on documenting their time in the program and how they were acclimating to the experience. Later in the program, we added an additional focus to the journaling activity, which was poised to help our students form better connections between their research and their personal lives, and how it all applies to the field of aging. Our students were assigned weekly journaling prompts, to which they responded and submitted. The focus of the journaling prompts evolved as we gained more insight into the specific needs of our students and what would be most beneficial to them. According to the faculty member leading this activity,

These sessions are intended for students to create “ownership” of the aging process through empathy and understanding of the process. Allowing students to use their creative thinking and imagine aging from a personal perspective, allows them to internalize how aging may impact them so that they will be transformed into agents of change in the aging process.

Once students submitted their responses to the prompts, they were able to have deeper conversations with each other in their weekly cohort meetings, which were led by an SC-ADAR faculty member. They also participated in an activity in which they consolidated their learning by identifying the following themes: general reflections on their time with SC-ADAR and how they have grown; reflecting on being isolated during COVID versus the daily reality of isolation for many seniors; and imagining themselves at 50 years into the future and what “ideal” aging would mean for them. We found that the journaling process and accompanying weekly discussions were effective methods of supporting coping mechanisms for the students themselves, as well as for linking aging research issues to the student’s direct and/or indirect experience with aging individuals, and for enhancing students’ personal identification with a wide variety of research areas dealing with aging.

Lesson 7: Representation Matters for URM Students

It is widely agreed that minority students benefit from role models who look like them and to whom they can relate. To achieve this goal, we arranged dinner meetings with both accomplished and junior aging researchers, especially those who have a similar background to the HBCU students in our program, so that the students could hear their life stories about career development. We believe such experiences are important both in inspiring potential students to choose a career in MSTEM and aging research, as well as to increase their self-efficacy in pursuing such a career, consistent with Bandura’s theory on social modeling and social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977).

We believe that having an understanding of the many different career options in MSTEM fields is one way to guide a student’s decision to pursue specific types of postbaccalaureate education. To provide a more in-depth and realistic view of what it means to pursue a research career in MSTEM and aging, we took advantage of the virtual world we now live in to invite professionals currently engaged in a variety of different careers related to MSTEM and aging research. Using Twitter, we put out requests for URM speakers to share their journey with the SC-ADAR students and the response was overwhelming. Importantly, all invited speakers were Black/African-American, supporting the adage “representation matters.” Over three sessions, students heard from MD/PhD students at Stanford, a Cardiovascular Disease Fellow at Saver Heart Center, University of Arizona, and the founding members of The National Society of Black Physician Assistants. These sessions proved invaluable to the SC-ADAR scholars in a variety of ways. First, the speakers provided a realistic view of their experiences as URMs in their respective fields and academic stages. Second, speakers were able to share things they wished they had been advised on before starting along their current trajectory. Third, SC-ADAR scholars felt comfortable enough to ask personal questions because the speakers were open and honest. For example, there was significant discussion around finances, a major barrier for URM students in pursuing graduate or medical training. Lastly, these sessions served as meaningful networking opportunities and the SC-ADAR scholars now have connections with URM professionals and scholars they can reach out to in the future. An unanticipated outcome of these interactions with our invited speakers turned out to be learning opportunities for SC-ADAR staff members, as we are now better equipped to mentor our scholars and have expanded our own networks.

Lesson 8: Reflective Social Experiences About Older Adults is Key

Another aspect of our training is to enable the students’ empathic learning about older adults. Students visit the South Carolina Assistive Technology Program, where they can explore new and emerging technologies that have the potential to enhance the lives of older adults and the providers who care for them. Through this experience, students have the opportunity to experiment with the technologies themselves, thus experiencing and identifying the challenges that older adults with functional impairments face. Differing from merely offering an introductory course to the social aspects of aging, our Reflective Social Experiences approach relies on various kinds of opportunities for social networking and observational learning to increase personal relevance of aging research, with the goal of increasing student commitment to pursuing a career in MSTEM and aging research.

We also realized the benefit of providing students with face-to-face time with older adults and their caregivers and arranged for students to visit elder care facilities and interview elders and caregivers in the community. These opportunities provided students with direct experience with talking with older adults, listening to their stories, and discussing how research could actually make a difference in the lives of older adults.

Lesson 9: Providing Social Support is Critical for Adjusting to the Transition from an HBCU Campus to a Predominantly White Institution

As our understanding of the needs and characteristics of our target student groups deepened, we realized the need to address the many feelings of social isolation that many of our HBCU students experienced being at a largely white, majority-serving institution, where they did not see many other students of color. This is consistent with prior research that has identified social isolation as well as additional stressors that challenge URM students, including lack of minority mentorship representation, imposter syndrome, and challenges in developing social capital, which have all been cited as contributing to URM students dropping out of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs (NASEM, 2019). Over the years, many SC-ADAR students have expressed a sense of social isolation, insecurity, and psychological stress related to career development and choices. One of the universal themes in the students’ feedback has always been the difficult adjustment going from an HBCU campus to that of a predominantly white institution (PWI).

To address these issues and improve their social support, we added a new course to improve students’ work-life management skills, taught by a COSW doctoral student, herself a graduate of one of the participating HBCUs. Given her own undergraduate experience at an HBCU, she is equipped with the first-hand knowledge and experiences of our students, and therefore able to develop seminars to reflect the challenges students may face coming from an HBCU to a PWI. This course consisted of facilitated discussions with students about how to cope with structural and societal considerations that influence their experience in relation to their URM status, including the challenges identified above, as well as how to communicate about career-related concerns, workplace expectations and values, stress, and time management tips, all of which have been identified as stressors for URM students (NASEM, 2019). A variety of instructional methods were used to enrich the students’ learning experience, including, course readings, mini-lectures, videos, and hands-on exercises to stimulate critical thinking about seminar-related topics. Students participated in both interactive small and large group discussions and were encouraged to share critiques and reflections related to the topics being covered. Students also co-facilitated sessions with the COSW doctoral student leading the course, which aimed to enhance their facilitation, communication, and teamwork skills essential for career development.

The doctoral student actively sought to learn about and develop relationships with each student on an individual basis, using this personal relatability and transparency to cultivate a classroom environment where students could engage in open and healthy conversations, share experiences, and work through issues related to work-life management. Topics related to imposter syndrome, social isolation, and team building resonated highly with students and received significant participation and class discussion. Students were initially less responsive to discussions around the issue of social capital. However, after acknowledging the challenges they face with identifying people in their social networks to provide essential support to achieve their academic and career goals (e.g., writing letters of recommendation, reviewing personal statements, and informal and formal mentorship), they were receptive to learning strategies to expand and optimize their social networks for academic and career opportunities.

Lesson 10: Tailoring the Role of the HBCU Faculty Comentors to be Compatible with Their Ongoing Academic Commitments is Necessary

Our experience over the first few years of SC-ADAR programming helped us better identify a more feasible role for the HBCU mentors. While we had anticipated that HBCU faculty would be interested in increasing their research skills/capacity through joint interactions with UofSC mentors on research, we found that different institutional expectations meant that HBCU mentors were often limited in the amount of time they could spend on research-related activities for themselves, mainly due to their heavy teaching loads. Instead of pursuing research, the majority of our HBCU faculty were eager to play an advisory role to enhance the likelihood of their students’ successful transition to graduate/professional school, including serving as an on-site academic advisor/mentor to ensure that students plan of the study included requisite STEM courses for their planned graduate/medical school applications, helping them maintain, and improve their grade point averages, and preparing for GRE/MCATs and applications for graduate school. An HBCU faculty who was an active researcher became interested in pursuing an aging focus in her own research, served as an SC-ADAR mentor, and later received an NIA-funded Pilot Grant through another NIA-funded research training program focused on research training for URM faculty scientists.

Conclusion

Taken together, these lessons learned from our collective experience of the first five years of program funding suggest three major messages: First, beyond domain-specific knowledge related to aging research, deliberate efforts are needed to help URM students improve basic academic skills, such as reading and writing scientific works, both of which are necessary to improve their readiness for graduate and professional school. Second, to ascertain students’ interests in, and commitment to, a career path in aging research, it is beneficial to build an informative and supportive social network that is designed to achieve a deeper understanding of the importance of aging research and growing confidence in one’s ability to become a functioning member of the academic community. And third, “representation matters,” and it is critical to provide our students with role models like themselves, as this can lead to a kind of “biographical learning, & in which life stories and social interactions lead to self-reflection and communication, which can open up a range of opportunities of which students might not have been aware (Alheit & Dausien, 2002).

The short-term outcomes of the SC-ADAR program are positive. All participating students unanimously expressed, at the exit interview, their positive feelings toward the SC-ADAR program, indicating that the program has had a strong influence on them, which for most MSTEM students means expansion or confirmation of their interests in becoming a MSTEM researcher in the aging field, and for others, enhanced skills in communication and writing as well as skills for pursuing other areas of academic education. All of them appreciated the supportive network they encountered during the two years of program participation, felt fortunate to be part of the program and would recommend their colleagues for program participation. Perhaps most importantly, some students who entered the program moderately interested in pursuing a career in aging reported that the program had a significant impact and provided a transformational experience that motivated them to choose a career path in aging and MSTEM.

Faculty mentors and staff of the SC-ADAR program all confirmed the significance of this program. While approving the pedagogical design and strategies of the program and acknowledging the challenges for URM undergraduates to becoming committed researchers in MSTEM and aging, most of the faculty witnessed the visible progress made by these students during the program period.

In general, the design and strategies of the SC-ADAR program seem successful so far, whereas the long-term impact of such a program is still to be assessed. However, even in this short term, there are multiple instances of student success related to program outcomes. Four program alumnae are currently pursuing their PhD in computer sciences and engineering, with three on full scholarships. One program alumna is enrolled in medical school, with another two applying to medical school, one in a master’s program in epidemiology with plans to pursue a medical degree upon completion of her master’s program, and one in a doctoral program in physical therapy focusing on older adults.Several students have taken gap years after they graduate to obtain work experience to enhance their probability of being accepted into the program of their choice. We remain committed to supporting these students throughout this process. Further follow-up evaluation is needed to determine to what extent the opportunities increased by the SC-ADAR program will lead to long-term impacts on the URM students' academic advancement in general and their commitment to MSTEM and aging research in particular.