Undergraduate researchers are often mentored by graduate or postdoctoral researchers who are in turn mentored by faculty, creating a “mentoring triad.” This study characterizes the prevalence of different mentoring triads at research universities and the relationships between undergraduates’ membership in specific triads and their research outcomes.

Undergraduate research with mentorship from faculty may be particularly important for ensuring the persistence of women and minority students in science. This study examines whether undergraduate researchers’ outcomes differ in relation to their gender or race/ethnicity and whether the mentoring structures they experience explain the differences.