Melissa L. Aikens

A Social Capital Perspective on the Mentoring of Undergraduate Life Science Researchers: An Empirical Study of Undergraduate–Postgraduate–Faculty Triads

Undergraduate researchers are often mentored by graduate or postdoctoral researchers who are in turn mentored by faculty, creating a “mentoring triad.” This study characterizes the prevalence of different mentoring triads at research universities and the relationships between undergraduates’ membership in specific triads and their research outcomes.

Race and Gender Differences in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Structures and Research Outcomes

Undergraduate research with mentorship from faculty may be particularly important for ensuring the persistence of women and minority students in science. This study examines whether undergraduate researchers’ outcomes differ in relation to their gender or race/ethnicity and whether the mentoring structures they experience explain the differences.

The Math–Biology Values Instrument: Development of a Tool to Measure Life Science Majors’ Task Values of Using Math in the Context of Biology

This study describes the development of a survey grounded in expectancy-value theory, providing multiple forms of validity evidence to support its use as a measure of students’ interest in using math to understand biology, the usefulness of math for one’s life science career, and the perceived cost of using math in biology courses.

A Guide for Graduate Students Interested in Postdoctoral Positions in Biology Education Research

Intended as a resource for life sciences graduate students, this essay discusses the diversity of postdoctoral positions in biology education and the careers to which they lead. The authors also provide advice to help graduate students develop the skills necessary to obtain a biology education research postdoctoral position.

Life Science Majors’ Math-Biology Task Values Relate to Student Characteristics and Predict the Likelihood of Taking Quantitative Biology Courses †

Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation predicts that students’ task values, which include their interest in and enjoyment of a task, their perceptions of the usefulness of a task (utility value), and their perceptions of the costs of engaging in the task (e.g., extra effort, anxiety), influence their achievement and academic-related choices. Further, these task values are theorized to be informed by students’ sociocultural background. Although biology students are often considered to be math-averse, there is little empirical evidence of students’ values of mathematics in the context of biology (math-biology task values). To fill this gap in knowledge, we sought to determine 1) life science majors’ math-biology task values, 2) how math-biology task values differ according to students’ sociocultural background, and 3) whether math-biology task values predict students’ likelihood of taking quantitative biology courses. We surveyed life science majors about their likelihood of choosing to take quantitative biology courses and their interest in using mathematics to understand biology, the utility value of mathematics for their life science career, and the cost of doing mathematics in biology courses. Students on average reported some cost associated with doing mathematics in biology; however, they also reported high utility value and were more interested in using mathematics to understand biology than previously believed. Women and first-generation students reported more negative math-biology task values than men and continuing-generation students. Finally, students’ math-biology task values predicted their likelihood of taking biomodeling and biostatistics courses. Instructional strategies promoting positive math-biology task values could be particularly beneficial for women and first-generation students, increasing the likelihood that students would choose to take advanced quantitative biology courses.