Cultivating PhD Aspirations during College.
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2022-06
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Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career barriers persist for individuals from marginalized communities due to financial and educational inequality, unconscious bias, and other disadvantaging factors. To evaluate differences in plans and interests between historically underrepresented (UR) and well-represented (WR) groups, we surveyed more than 3000 undergraduates enrolled in chemistry courses. Survey responses showed all groups arrived on campus with similar interests in learning more about science research. Over the 4 years of college, WR students maintained their interest levels, but UR students did not, creating a widening gap between the groups. Without intervention, UR students participated in lab research at lower rates than their WR peers. A case study pilot program, Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement (BioCoRE), encouraged STEM research exploration by undergraduates from marginalized communities. BioCoRE provided mentoring and programming that increased community cohesion and cultivated students' intrinsic scientific mindsets. Our data showed that there was no statistical significant difference between BioCoRE WR and UR students when surveyed about plans for a medical profession, graduate school, and laboratory scientific research. In addition, BioCoRE participants reported higher levels of confidence in conducting research than non-BioCoRE Scholars. We now have the highest annual number of UR students moving into PhD programs in our institution's history.
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Jones, Daniela S, Devyn D Gillette, Paige E Cooper, Raquel Y Salinas, Jennifer L Hill, Sherilynn J Black, Daniel J Lew, Dorian A Canelas, et al. (2022). Cultivating PhD Aspirations during College. CBE life sciences education, 21(2). p. ar22. 10.1187/cbe.20-06-0111 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24744.
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Sherilynn Black
Sherilynn Black, PhD is the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, providing national leadership in many areas of faculty and leadership advancement. She also designs institutional interventions that develop thriving systems, advance data-driven behavioral change, and optimize mentorship practices. Dr. Black is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Medical Education and engages in social neuroscience research to better understand the motivators and underlying behaviors that impact experiences in the academy. She examines the role of contextual affordances in the effectiveness of interventions designed to advance culture in local units. Dr. Black has long-standing expertise in creating interventions to increase representation among faculty and students across disciplines and leads work nationally to catalyze systemic change in academia.
Dr. Black previously served as the founding Director of OBGD in the Duke University School of Medicine and was also a Principal Investigator of the NIH-IMSD funded Duke Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement (BioCoRE) Program. She sits on several institutional advisory boards and holds a number of national appointments and roles relating to faculty development and advancement with the NIH, HHMI, AAMC, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the Society for Neuroscience. She served on the Advisory Committee of the Director of the NIH (WGD) and is currently appointed as an ad-hoc member of NIGMS Council at NIH. She serves as co-chair of the National Academies Roundtable on Mentorship, Professional Development and Well-Being and is the co-chair of the IvyPlus Faculty Advancement Network and National Institute. In 2025, she became the Monitoring Editor of CBE Life Sciences Education.
Dr. Black has won several distinctions for her work, including the Samuel DuBois Cook Society award, the Duke University EDI award, the Dean’s Award for Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education, the Duke University Centennial Trailblazer distinction, and was named as a Cell Press Top 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America and a Principal Facilitator for the national Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). She earned her B.S. in Psychology and Biology with highest honors at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar. She earned her Ph.D. in Neurobiology at Duke University and completed additional studies in educational statistics and intervention assessment in the School of Education at UNC–Chapel Hill.
Dorian Canelas
Prof. Canelas has been active in implementation of student-centered pedagogies and developing programs to increase undergraduate retention in science tracks. Research interests include chemical education research and the scholarship of teaching and learning as well as macromolecules for industrial and biological applications, such as microelectronics, coatings, membranes, gene therapy delivery, and blood compatibility.
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