title: The Benefits of Attending the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS): The Role of Research Confidence.
abstract: The Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) is designed to support undergraduate students' professional development as future scientists. Juniors, seniors, and postbaccalaureates who attended ABRCMS during 2008-2011 were emailed a link to an online questionnaire in which they reported their experiences at the conference. Attendees reported many ABRCMS-provided benefits. Frequency of attending or presenting at ABRCMS is positively related to science self-efficacy, research confidence, sense of belonging in science, and intentions to pursue a research degree in graduate school. Increased research confidence predicts graduate school plans and intentions for a research career in science; however, men were slightly more likely to intend to pursue a research career than women, likely due to higher research confidence. Although all attendees benefited from ABRCMS, underrepresented minority (URM) students had higher science self-efficacy and sense of belonging in science after attending ABRCMS than non-URM students. This finding demonstrates the effectiveness of ABRCMS as an intervention to increase the representation and success of URMs in science. Results highlight the importance of attending a minority-oriented research conference where URMs can develop their science self-efficacy, research confidence, and sense of belonging in science. However, changes to the conference and undergraduate research experiences may be necessary to reduce gender gaps.
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63121 casadbj@umsl.edu.
authors: Bettina J
authors: BJ
authors: Casad
authors: Education Department, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC 20036.
authors: Amy L
authors: AL
authors: Chang
authors: Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Madison, WI 53706.
authors: Christine M
authors: CM
authors: Pribbenow
mesh_terms: D001363:Awards and Prizes; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002321:Career Choice; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities