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Minority Access to Research Careers: An Evaluation of the Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program Howard H. Garrison Prudence W. Brown Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel Institute of Medicine National Academy Press Washington, D.C. l985
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of the report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The Institute of Medicine was chartered in l970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's l863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. The work on which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Contract No. N0l-OD-4-2l02 with the National Institutes of Health of the Department of Health and Human Services. Support for this project came from Evaluation Set-Aside funds (Section 5l3 of the PHS Act), Evaluation Project No. NIH 75-1. Publication No. IOM-85-08 froffll National Technical Information Servlcl, Springfield. Va. 22151 Order No,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people contributed their time and effort to this evaluation. The staff at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (especially Elward Bynum and John Norvell) were extremely helpful. National Research Council staff members George Boyce, Doris Rogowski, and Mary Wanyoike provided valuable advice and assistance in the various phases of survey design and data processing. Shirley M. Malcom's comments on an early draft of the questionnaire and Ellen F. Greenberg's comments on the manuscript are greatly appreciated. Betty Pickett, W. Sue Badman, and Ciriaco Gonzales of the Division of Research Resources of NIH also provided comments on the report. Staff members of the Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel (Allen Singer, Samuel Herman, Lori Thurgood, Kay Harris, and Dorothy Cooper) assisted in various stages of the project. Several members of the committee provided helpful suggestions and detailed comments on previous drafts of this manuscript. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Dorothy Cooper who skillfully and patiently typed the many drafts of this report. Howard Buck's persistent efforts to locate the study population were also crucial to the success of the project. Howard Garrison Prudence Brown iii
Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel Chairman: Robert L. HILL, Ph.D. Chairman, Department of Biochemistry Duke University Medical Center Robert BARKER, Ph.D. Provost Cornell University Robert M. BOCK, Ph.D. (Chairman, Basic Biomedical Sciences Panel) Dean, Graduate School University of Wisconsin-Madison Ada K. JACOX, Ph.D. Director, Center for Research School of Nursing University of Maryland Lyle V. JONES, Ph.D. Director, The L. L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill David R. CHALLONER, M.O. Vice President for Health Affairs University of Florida Emilio Q. DADDARIO, LL.D. Attorney-at-Law Wilkes, Artis, Hedrick & Lane Washington, D.C. Charles D. FLAGLE, Ph.D. Professor and Head, Division of Operations Research Oept. of Health Services Admin. Johns Hopkins University William N. KELLEY, M.D. Professor and Chairman Department of Internal Medicine University of Michigan Medical School Charlotte V. KUH, Ph.D. District Manager, Business Research American Telephone & Telegraph Company Basking Ridge, NJ Brendan A. MAHER, Ph.D. (Chairman, Behavioral Sciences Panel) Professor of Psychology Harvard University Robert H. FURMAN, M.D. (Chairman, Clinical Sciences Panel) Consultant Eli Lilly & Company Indianapolis, IN W. Lee HANSEN, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Wisconsin-Madison Jerry MINER, Ph.D. Professor of Economics Syracuse University Gerald T. PERKOFF, M.D. Curators Professor School of Medicine University of Missouri-Columbia STAFF Allen M. SINGER, Ph.D., Staff Director Howard H. GARRISON, Ph.D. Project Director for Special Studies and Executive Secretary for Behavioral Sciences Panel Samuel S. HERMAN, D.D.S., Ph.D. Executive Secretary Clinical Sciences Panel and Ad Hoc Panel on Dental Research Kay C. HARRIS, B.S. Administrative Officer Prudence W. BROWN, B.A. Lori THURGOOD, B.A. Research Associates Dorothy G. COOPER, B.S. Secretary
SUMMARY The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program was created by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to increase the number of biomedical scientists from minority groups. The largest component of the MARC program is the Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program. Trainees (junior and senior level honors students at schools with enrollments drawn substantially from minority groups) receive tuition and stipend support and participate in a specially structured curriculum. Exposure to ongoing research in the biomedical sciences is a central component of the training experience. The MARC Honors program has as its principal objective the encouragement of minority students in the pursuit of graduate training leading to the Ph.D. degree. It began in l977 with 74 trainees at l2 participating schools. By l984 there were 389 undergraduate trainees at 52 programs involving 56 undergraduate institutions. As of August l984, there were nearly 800 program alumni. At the request of NIGMS, the Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel has undertaken an evaluation of the Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program. The study design, consisting of an analysis of existing data on the training of minority group scientists, site visits to ongoing training programs, and a survey of former trainees is described in Chapter l. The MARC Honors program was established in response to the small number of minority group members holding research doctorates in the biomedical sciences. Chapter 2 presents a brief statistical overview of the program. Examination of the most current data on scientific employment and training in Chapter 3 demonstrates that minority group members are still underrepresented at all stages of the scientific career. Although some reduction of the minority/nonminority disparity has taken place, substantial underrepresentation of minorities remains the rule. Site visits to five MARC Honors training programs (described in Chapter 4) reveal a diverse array of program activities adapted to the needs of the recipient institutions and their students. The MARC Honors program (often working in conjunction with another NIH program, the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program) brings guest speakers to campus, develops new courses, purchases laboratory equipment, and fosters institutional connections between program schools and major research centers. Most of these activities benefit the entire scientific community on campus. Individual trainees receive stipends and work closely with faculty members on laboratory research projects. As part of their training, they also attend scientific seminars, conferences, and meetings. A summer research project (usually at a major research university) is a significant part of the MARC Honors experience. Trainees report that the laboratory exposure and close contact with faculty members is an important part of their academic and professional development. Many credit these experiences with shaping their decision to pursue research careers. Vll
Faculty members report high levels of motivation among the MARC Honors students and note several examples of published research by undergraduate trainees. At almost every institution the faculty members identified highly talented students who might not have been able to finish school without the availability of MARC stipends. Two important issues emerged from the site visits. There seems to be some disagreement over the optimal location of the trainees' summer research experience. Some MARC faculty members feel that the student is best served by continuing a research project at the home institution. Others find the benefits of external placement (personal growth as well as broader research experience) to be significant. Emphasis on external placement varies within and across program institutions. A second issue concerns the selection of trainees. The MARC Honors program was designed explicitly to prepare students for research careers, yet many talented undergraduate science majors plan to pursue professional (but not necessarily research) careers. The question of how to treat students with professional career plans is a crucial issue in the selection of MARC Honors applicants. A questionnaire inquiring about educational and occupational status was sent to all MARC Honors program alumni. Sixty-five percent of the 821 former trainees in the study population returned the question- naires. Survey results, presented in Chapter 5, show that 76.l percent of the former trainees have enrolled in graduate or profes- sional programs at some point. As of November l2, l984 (the survey reference date), 43.5 percent of the former trainees were enrolled in doctorate programs (l28 in M.D. or D.D.S. programs, 86 in Ph.D. programs and 3 in M.D./Ph.D. programs). Another l5.l percent were enrolled in master's degree programs. Since the first MARC Honors cohort graduated in l978 (and the first full, two-year trainee cohort in l979), there has been limited time in which to complete work on a Ph.D. degree. By the fall of l984, 22 people from the first 3 trainee cohorts (2l.2 percent) had earned doctorate degrees. Of the completed doctorates, the vast majority were M.D.s; only one respondent had completed a Ph.D. at the time of the survey. Most of the former trainees who were no longer in school were employed in science or engineering fields (62.4 percent). The unemployment rate of former trainees was 9.2 percent and unemployment was concentrated among those without graduate degrees. While exact comparisons cannot be made, the rates of graduate school attendance and employment in science fields for the former MARC Honors trainees are above the levels found in the most closely comparable national data. Overall, 35.7 percent of the respondents expected to be in research careers by the time they are 35 years old. Among those planning careers in the health professions, a smaller fraction (l3.0 percent) expected to be doing research at age 35. Only a small fraction of the former trainees (7.4 percent) expect to be in jobs unrelated to science or engineering. The survey did not reveal any serious deficiencies in the MARC Honors program. While some students left graduate or professional programs before receiving a degree (22.2 percent), nearly half are currently enrolled in another graduate or professional program. More viii
students withdrew from master's degree programs than from doctorate programs. Students reported a high level of satisfaction with the MARC Honors program in general and with the research component in particular. Some evidence also points to an institutional impact of the MARC Honors program. National figures from Department of Education surveys (presented in Chapter 6) show that the percentage of students earning bachelor's degrees in biology has remained level since the late l970s for minority students and has decreased for white students. At MARC schools, however, the percentage of biology majors increased (especially among minority students). Both the size and the length of the programs were associated with higher rates of degrees earned in biology. These effects persisted after the impact of other institutional characteristics were taken into consideration. IX
CONTENTS l. Introduction 2. A Statistical Overview of the MARC Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program 3. Minority Participation in the Biomedical Sciences 8 4. Program Activities and Accomplishments: Site Visit Perspectives l5 5. Survey of Former MARC Honors Trainees 29 6. Bachelors Degrees Awarded in the Biological Sciences: Program and Nonprogram Schools 53 REFERENCES 69 APPENDIXES 73 A MARC Program Institutions, by Year First Funded and Number of Trainees Graduating 74 B Letter to Program Directors and Discussion Topics for MARC Visits 76 C Survey of Undergraduate Science Majors: Cover Letters and Questionnaire 78 D Comparisons of Survey Respondents and Nonrespondents 87 E Predominantly Black Institutions 9l F l98l MBRS and MARC Institutions 94 xi
