Broadening participation: 20-year outcomes from undergraduate science training programs

Woodcock, Anna 1 ; Hernandez, Paul2 ; Schultz, Wesley 1 ; Peterson, Mary1 ; Aguilar, Samantha 2

Published May 27, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dz08kpsc4

Data files

May 27, 2026 version files 158.03 KB

Abstract

Science thrives on diverse perspectives, yet women and scientists from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in doctoral-level biomedical research careers. Despite decades of investment in training initiatives, rigorous long-term evidence of their effectiveness is limited. We conducted a 20-year prospective, matched-control longitudinal study to test whether participation in two National Institutes of Health undergraduate programs, the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), increases doctoral (Ph.D.) completion. Using propensity score matching on 11 baseline characteristics, we followed 743 students from 2005 to 2025. Participants were more than twice as likely as matched peers to earn a Ph.D., with effects remaining robust after adjusting for prior academic achievement and career intentions. These findings demonstrate that sustained undergraduate training programs can durably expand participation in the biomedical research workforce.

Open Source Data

We have submitted our raw data in both csv: (Interventions_shared.csv), and Stata: (Interventions_shared.dta), including our Stata syntax do file:
(Interventions_shared.do).

Descriptions

Variables: Interventions_shared

attcolle - University attended
MTP - Participation in national undergraduate science training programs Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
w_gpa - Participant grade point average (GPA) on 4.0 scale at baseline
q154_0 - Intention to become a research scientist at baseline
phd_complete - PhD Completion

Key Information Sources

University, Science Training Program Participation, GPA, Science Intent, and PhD Completion were derived from the following sources:

Self-report via Qualtrics survey
National Student Clearing House open source availble data

Code/Software

STATA is required to run Interventions_shared.do; the script was created using version 18.0.
Annotations are provided throughout the script through 1) library loading, 2) dataset loading and cleaning, and 3) analyses.

Human subjects data

This study was reviewed and approved by the California State University San Marcos and the Claremont Graduate University Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). All participants provided informed consent electronically prior to participation. The consent form clearly stated that de-identified data may be made available for research and educational purposes, and explicit consent for such data sharing was obtained from all participants.

To protect participant confidentiality, all identifying information (e.g., names, contact details, IP addresses, and other potentially identifying metadata) was removed from the dataset prior to deposit. Each participant record has been assigned a numeric ID number, which is the only identifier retained in the dataset. This ID cannot be traced back to any individual participant. Accordingly, the dataset shared on Dryad contains only de-identified information and poses minimal risk to participant privacy.