Undergraduate Research in the United States: Diversity, Growth, and Challenges

Participation in Undergraduate Research Reduces Equity Gaps in STEM Graduation Rates

“…There were many more researchers in STEM majors and UR students had a higher first-year or transfer cumulative GPA on average than their peers. Current funding structures and faculty promotion standards in STEM fields are more conducive to engaging students in research in contrast to other disciplines that do not have access to the same level of federal grant funding to support UR ( Ambos, 2020 ). Notably, though, the universities involved in this study all had highly diverse UR programs; indeed, at many of the institutions, the population of URs was actually significantly more diverse than the general student population in terms of parental education, student SES, and race/ethnicity.…”