Developing cultural humility in immunology and STEMM mentoring

The graduate school guide: How to prepare for the qualifying exam and assemble a thesis/graduate committee

Qualifying exams and thesis committees are crucial components of a PhD candidate's journey. However, many candidates have trouble navigating these milestones and knowing what to expect. This article provides advice on meeting the requirements of the qualifying exam, understanding its format and components, choosing effective preparation strategies, retaking the qualifying exam, if necessary, and selecting a thesis committee, all while maintaining one's mental health. This comprehensive guide addresses components of the graduate school process that are often neglected.

Speaking up for the invisible minority: First-generation students in higher education

A first-generation college student is typically defined as a student whose biological parent(s) or guardian(s) never attended college or who started but did not finish college. However, "first-generation" can represent diverse family education situations. The first-generation student community is a multifaceted, and intersectional group of individuals who frequently lack educational/financial resources to succeed and, consequently, require supportive environments with rigorous mentorship. However, first-generation students often do not make their identity as first-generation students known to others due to several psychosocial and academic factors. Therefore, they are often "invisible minorities" in higher education. In this paper, we describe the diverse family situations of first-generation students, further define "first-generation," and suggest five actions that first-generation trainees at the undergraduate/graduate stages can engage in to succeed in an academic climate. We also provide suggestions for mentors to accommodate first-generation students' unique experiences and equip them with tools to deliver intentional mentoring practices. We hope that this paper will help promote first-generation student success throughout the academic pipeline.

The power of junior faculty mentoring committees

Junior faculty mentoring committees have important roles in ensuring that faculty thrive and adjust to their new positions and institutions. Here, we describe the purpose, structure, and benefits of junior faculty mentoring committees, which can be a powerful tool for early-career academic investigators in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. There is a paucity of information about what mentoring committees are, how to use them effectively, what areas they should evaluate, and how they can most successfully help junior faculty progress in their careers. This work offers guidance for both junior faculty mentees and mentoring committee members on how to best structure and utilize mentoring committees to promote junior faculty success. A better understanding of the intricacies of the mentoring committee will allow junior faculty members to self-advocate and will equip committee mentors with tools to ensure that junior faculty are successful in thriving in academia.

Running a successful STEMM summer program: A week-by-week guide

While some established undergraduate summer programs are effective across many institutions, these programs may only be available to some principal investigators or may not fully address the diverse needs of incoming undergraduates. This article outlines a 10-week science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) education program designed to prepare undergraduate students for graduate school through a unique model incorporating mentoring dyads and triads, cultural exchanges, and diverse activities while emphasizing critical thinking, research skills, and cultural sensitivity. Specifically, we offer a straightforward and adaptable guide that we have used for mentoring undergraduate students in a laboratory focused on mitochondria and microscopy, but which may be customized for other disciplines. Key components include self-guided projects, journal clubs, various weekly activities such as mindfulness training and laboratory techniques, and a focus on individual and cultural expression. Beyond this unique format, this 10-week program also seeks to offer an intensive research program that emulates graduate-level experiences, offering an immersive environment for personal and professional development, which has led to numerous achievements for past students, including publications and award-winning posters.

A guide to establishing, implementing, and optimizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) committees

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts are increasingly recognized as critical for the success of academic institutions. These efforts are facilitated mainly through the formation of dedicated DEIA committees. DEIA committees enhance professional development and create a more inclusive environment, which benefits all members of the institution. Although leadership and faculty membership have recognized the importance and necessity of DEIA, the roles of DEIA committees may be more ambiguous. Although leadership and faculty may seek to support DEIA at their institutions, they may not always fully understand the necessity of these committees or how to successfully create a committee, foster and promote its success, and sustain its impact. Thus, here, we offer a background rationale and guide for strategically setting up DEIA committees for success and impact within an academic institution with applicability to scientific societies.

Recognizing and addressing environmental microaggressions, know-your-place aggression, peer mediocrity, and code-switching in STEMM

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are critical for fostering growth, innovation, and collaboration in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). This article focuses on four key topics that have impacted many Black individuals in STEMM: know-your-place aggression, environmental microaggressions, peer mediocrity, and code-switching. We provide a comprehensive background on these issues, discuss current statistics, and provide references that support their existence, as well as offer solutions to recognize and address these problems in the STEMM which can be expanded to all historically underrepresented individuals.

A pilot study on our non-traditional, varied writing accountability group for historically excluded and underrepresented persons in STEMM

Underrepresented faculty have higher burnout rates and lower grant attainment rates when compared with their non-minority counterparts. Many in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) disciplines, including underrepresented individuals, often have difficulty dedicating time to the writing process, with trainees often being relegated to laboratory tasks in their training years, resulting in a lack of practice in academic writing. Notably, past studies have shown that grant attainment rates of underrepresented individuals are lower than their majority counterparts. Here, we sought to consider a mechanism targeted to underrepresented individuals, although applicable to everyone, to help overcome traditional barriers to writing in STEMM. The authors have hosted a writing accountability group (WAG) that uniquely provides a format focused on physical activity and different forms of writing to strengthen both career development and award/funding attainment. Our objectives were to evaluate this unique format, thus creating a resource for individuals and institutions to learn about WAGs and expand upon the framework to formulate their own WAG. To do this, we performed a small pilot study (n = 21) to investigate attitudes towards the WAG. We present the results of a survey conducted among underrepresented WAG participants, which spanned different career stages and was highly diverse demographically. Our results show that following attendance of our WAG, individuals did not note a significant change in scales pertaining to John Henryism (high-effort coping), resilience, sense of belonging, or grit. However, significant increases were noted in the self-perceived ability to handle stress, confidence in applying for awards, appreciation for mentoring, and satisfaction of WAGs. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that our unique WAG format can have some positive results as a career and writing development opportunity and may be able to support underrepresented individuals in attaining funding at higher education institutions.

The CARE (Curiosity, Attentiveness, Respect and Responsiveness, and Embodiment) Model: Operationalizing Cultural Humility in the Conduct of Clinical Research

Cultural competence training has been criticized for reinforcing existing stereotypes, ignoring intersectionality and inadvertently marginalizing some individuals and groups. In contrast, cultural humility offers the possibility of transformational learning, requiring individuals to pursue a lifelong course of self-examination. This approach makes authentic engagement with others possible. We review the premises underlying cultural competence and cultural humility, as well as proposed models for the integration of cultural humility into the clinical context. We propose a new model for the integration of cultural humility into clinical research: CARE, signifying Curiosity, Attentiveness, Respect and Responsiveness, and Embodiment. We conclude that the concept of cultural humility can be integrated into the conduct of clinical research.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Laboratory: Strategies to Enhance Inclusive Laboratory Culture

Building a diverse laboratory that is equitable is critical for the retention of talent and the growth of trainees professionally and personally. Here, we outline several strategies including enhancing understanding of cultural competency and humility, establishing laboratory values, and developing equitable laboratory structures to create an inclusive laboratory environment to enable trainees to achieve their highest success.

Project Strengthen: An STEMM-focused career development workshop to prepare underrepresented minority students for graduate school

Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) programs are aimed to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) fields. However, limited programs and eligibility requirements limit the students who may apply to similar programs. At Winston-Salem State University, we piloted a series of workshops, collectively termed Project Strengthen, to emulate some of the key aspects of MARC programs. Following the workshop, Project Strengthen students showed a significant increase in their understanding of essential educational development skills, such as writing personal statements, applying to graduate school, studying for the GRE, and seeking summer internships. This suggests Project Strengthen may be a potential lower cost comparable option than MARC to make up for current deficiencies in preparedness for graduate school. We also provide educational materials from Project Strengthen, including a clear framework for this seminar series, six ready-made PowerPoints to share with trainees that have been demonstrated to be effective.

Evolution of storytelling pedagogy in global health course at a U.S. Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution from Fall 2019 to Spring 2023

Background and purpose

Responding to COVID-19-induced disruptions to traditional teaching methodologies, and considering the relevance of narratives among indigenous populations, "storytelling as pedagogy" was developed and implemented in the undergraduate Global Health course in a Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution (NASNTI) in Colorado.

Methods

We describe the evolving pedagogic adjustments and storytelling strategies incorporated into the global health course from Fall 2019 to Spring 2023. This entailed before the COVID-19 in-person format, online digital storytelling during the pandemic emergency, the HyFlex and hybrid classes with the emergence of "new normals," and finally the gradual move to in-person classes. The story arc in the course included the following: (1) Course learning outcomes revisited and the course syllabus language framed based on the native philosophies of empowerment education and experiential learning, (2) students' inputs sought to incorporate socioculturally responsive topics in the course syllabus (e.g., dental health disparities among indigenous populations), (3) strategic and non-threatening shifts such as "no textbooks" and "no finals" introduced, (4) global health thought partners invited by the course instructor and coached to use story-based teaching methods, (5) use of first-person trauma-informed storytelling methods to teach specific global health topics, and (6) students undertook gratitude journaling, a scaffolding exercise of writing letters on global health topics to global health thought partners.

Results

Storytelling as pedagogy was most effective in the in-person format, while digital storytelling during the COVID-19-induced online classes was extremely challenging considering the stark digital divide in the Navajo Nation. First-person, trauma-informed storytelling is a helpful approach to discuss insider-outsider perspectives and can potentially establish sustainable trustworthy relationships among the students, instructor, and global health thought leaders. Gratitude journaling and photovoice can be tweaked as powerful storytelling methods to build students' interaction-based critical thinking, intercultural humility, and professional networking.

Conclusion

Mapping storytelling pedagogies' best practices can be useful in developing a granulated understanding of this strategy and utilizing them across diverse disciplines in higher education. Faculty capacity building is recommended to enable the former to conceptualize culturally responsive storytelling pedagogies and create assessment plans to assess students' learning outcomes through the utilization of this method.

How to be a GREAT mentor

Formal training in how to mentor is not generally available to students, postdoctoral fellows, or junior faculty. We provide here a framework to develop as a mentor, using the GREAT model. This includes giving opportunities and opening doors; reaching out to help students identify their strengths and reach their goals; encouraging them by serving as a positive example; advising each mentee as an individual; and training them for independent thinking. In this personal view, we expand on each of these steps to illustrate how to develop a personalized mentoring style of your own. By combining these approaches, you as a mentor can work with your mentees to develop an effective and productive mentoring relationship.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We provide here a framework to develop as a mentor, using the GREAT model. This includes giving opportunities and opening doors; reaching out to help students identify their strengths and reach their goals; encouraging them by serving as a positive example; advising each mentee as an individual; and training them for independent thinking.

Advancing understanding of discordant mentoring relationships in STEMM: A method and framework

Having a diverse workforce in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) fields is essential for the United States to remain competitive in the global economy and to create a more just society. Faculty-mentored undergraduate research experiences have been identified as a high-impact practice for encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to pursue STEMM education and careers. Despite extensive research examining factors influencing the effectiveness of mentor-mentee relationships, there is still limited understanding of how differences or similarities in the social identities of mentors and mentees, which we term mentor-mentee discordance, impact undergraduates' research experiences and outcomes. In this perspective, we propose that mentor-mentee discordance should be conceptualized as a multidimensional, continuous construct and suggest a global index to measure varying degrees of discordance in mentoring relationships. We also offer a conceptual model that incorporates the Discordance Index to systematize the understanding of the effects of discordant mentoring relationships on student development across social contexts and over time. Finally, we provide recommendations for future researchers, STEMM educators, and program directors who are interested in using the Discordance Index.

Asian Americans in STEM are not a monolith

Despite tremendous diversity, Asian Americans in STEM are grouped and viewed as a homogeneous monolith, facing stereotypes and disparities. We propose solutions that include disaggregating the Asian American grouping and recognizing the diverse individual ethnic subgroups that comprise Americans of Asian ancestry to implement change within the STEM field.

Catalyst for Change: Future of DEI in Academia

In this paper, we propose ways to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenges and outline steps and methodologies for creating allies and empowering leaders to support DEI efforts in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) for underrepresented minorities (URMs).

Editorial: making the invisible visible in STEMM

Our editorial focused on the concept of "Making the Invisible Visible in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM)." We highlight 11 manuscripts submitted to our research topic, which offer unique and innovative, evidence-backed solutions to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEMM. Notably, often racial, and ethnic minority scientists are forgotten and placed in the background even when they make a significant contribution to research. The manuscripts highlighted here begin to undo this and empower by making the invisible visible.

Strategies for change: thriving as an individual with a disabilty in STEMM

Disability remains an underacknowledged and underdiscussed topic in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Social stigma and fear of negative outcomes have resulted in a consistent lack of disclosure. Disabilities cause social and professional difficulties for those that have them. While some faculty can be allies, past literature shows that steps must be taken to make disabilities visible in STEMM at both student and faculty levels. Here, we offer suggestions to better support faculty and students in enhancing the outcomes of individuals who have invisible disabilities. Critically, techniques such as abolishing stigma, universal learning, and better mentoring may improve the challenges faced by those who self-identify as an individual with a disability.