Investigating the relationship between participation in the building infrastructure leading to diversity (BUILD) initiative and intent to pursue a science career: A cross-sectional analysis

This paper presents an analysis of survey data to examine the association between supervised structured mentoring and students’ intent to pursue a career in science. Data were collected from students in the 10 Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) research training programs, developed through grants from the National Institutes of Health. Propensity score matching and multinomial logistic regression demonstrated that exposure to BUILD programs—meaning participation in undergraduate research, receipt of mentoring from a primary mentor, and/or participation as a funded scholar and/or associate of each BUILD site’s training program—was associated with increased intent to pursue a science career. These findings have implications for STEM program evaluation and practice in higher education. •Supervised Mentoring predicts intent to pursue a science career.•Research Participation is associated with successful STEM outcomes.•Evaluation of an NIH funded Project•Increasing diversity in the biomedical sciences is crucial to a successful workforce.