To increase the numbers of underrepresented racial minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), federal and private agencies have allocated significant funding to undergraduate research programs, which have been shown to students’ intentions of enrolling in graduate or professional school. Analyzing a longitudinal sample of 4,152 aspiring STEM majors who completed the 2004 Freshman Survey and 2008 College Senior Survey, this study utilizes multinomial hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) and propensity score matching techniques to examine how participation in undergraduate research affects STEM students’ intentions to enroll in STEM and non-STEM graduate and professional programs. Findings indicate that participation in an undergraduate research program significantly improved students’ probability of indicating plans to enroll in a STEM graduate program.

Utilizing a national sample of over 6,100 undergraduates, drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) Freshman Survey and College Senior Survey, this study investigates differences between STEM and non‐STEM students at the end of college on the values they place on helping to create a more equitable society. Findings show that, on average, STEM students view the importance of working for social change as less important to their career goals, yet differences between Underrepresented Students of Color and their non‐underrepresented counterparts emerge. The multilevel analysis revealed that majoring in a STEM discipline has a significant negative relationship with social agency outcomes, and that there are important differences in social agency outcomes among students who aspire to work in different STEM‐related careers. Given the intellectual debates over the purpose of STEM education, the findings have broad implications for STEM education scholars, policymakers, and practitioners interested in promoting STEM students’ social and civic outcomes at institutions of higher education. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 610–632, 2015.

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Students of color remain severely underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, including environmental fields. Although there is a growing body of research on predictors of selecting a STEM major, generally, much less is know about factors, especially at the program level, that predict the enrollment of students of color into specific STEM degree programs. Additionally, theoretical frameworks and higher education research on college major choice have yet to consider whether the climate for racial/ethnic diversity specifically within academic degree programs may affect the enrollment of students of color in those programs. Given this theoretical and empirical gap, this study set out to investigate whether an inclusive climate for diversity within a degree program may contribute to an increasing enrollment of students of color in interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) degree programs. Using a national sample of 343 IES degree programs and extending dimensions of an inclusive campus climate for racial/ethnic diversity to degree programs, findings show that IES degree programs with a more inclusive curriculum and greater student compositional diversity are significantly more likely to report an increasing enrollment of students of color. Implications of the findings for broadening participation and understanding diverse students’ college major/career choice are examined.

Providing undocumented immigrants access to public education remains a pertinent issue facing both institutions of higher education and state governments. While instate resident tuition (ISRT) has remained a contentious policy, little is known about how such policies, as well as other state contexts, influence college students' attitudes toward unauthorized immigrant students' educational access. Using three-level multilevel models, we sought to understand how political, economic, and demographic contexts at the institutional and state level affect the development of US citizen students' views toward undocumented immigrants' access to public education during their undergraduate years. After controlling for student-level effects, findings show that institutional variables such as selectivity, control, and percentage of low-income students enrolled contribute to students' attitude development. At the state level, findings show that students who attend institutions within states that have ISRT policies have more positive views towards undocumented immigrants' access to public education at the end of college. This research highlights the critical need for higher education researchers, institutional leaders, and policy makers to better understand how institutional and state contexts shape students' understanding of larger sociopolitical issues.