# Families for STEM Success: Mentoring LatinX Parents to Mentor and Support their STEM Students

> **NIH NIH U01** · CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS · 2022 · $270,052

## Abstract

Biomedical discoveries and public health clearly benefit from a diverse biomedical workforce.
Latinx parents are a largely untapped, and potentially powerful, resource for decreasing Latinx
student flight from the biomedical science career path. Behavioral science research has firmly
established that developing an identity as a scientist is a strong predictor of persistence on the
scientific research career path, yet little is known about how Latinx science majors balance their
scientific and ethnic identities and how parental support, and mentorship could foster identity
balance. The long-term research goal is to understand the impact of balancing science and ethnic
identities on attrition from the biomedical science career pipeline, and to test the utility of an
intervention designed to foster identity balance. The proposed research employs a quasi-
experimental, matched control, longitudinal design, to measure the impact of an intervention
program with parents of two cohorts (2020-2021 and 2021-2022) incoming Latinx biomedical
science majors. The specific aims are: 1) to measure the immediate impact of the workshop on
LatinX parents’ knowledge of and attitudes about science, the value of a science degree, and the
compatibility between scientific research and Latinx heritage. 2) to measure the impact of the
parental intervention on the short and long-term academic persistence and success of Latinx
biomedical science students. 3) to measure the impact of the parental intervention on students’
science identity across time, and the balance between their science and Latinx identities, and 4)
to assess the degree to which the effects of the parental intervention on short and longer-term
academic outcomes are mediated through scientific-Latinx identity balance. An early
intervention with parents has the potential to alter students’ social context to support identity
balance. This project is significant because it will provide a theory-driven rigorous empirical
understanding how parental education and support can help Latinx biomedical science students
achieve academically and balance a strong Latinx identity with an emerging science identity.
This parent intervention programs could significantly increase the pool of qualified Latinx
doctoral program applicants in less than a decade.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10606428
- **Project number:** 3U01GM138437-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
- **Principal Investigator:** Anna Woodcock
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $270,052
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10606428

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10606428, Families for STEM Success: Mentoring LatinX Parents to Mentor and Support their STEM Students (3U01GM138437-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10606428. Licensed CC0.

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