Transforming Professional Development of Undergraduate Students at Three HBCUs: Psychological Science Broadening Participation Research Training Curriculum Design

Program Abstract: Within our National Science Foundation-funded Broadening Participation Research Center, we are developing an innovative psychological science research training curriculum. Our professional development curriculum model includes several key features and outcomes. First, through scaffolding and team science with multi-level and multi-institutional mentoring, undergraduate students are trained on the value of researchers' self-awareness and development and how to use their evolving knowledge about theory, methodology, and writing to contribute to our center’s mixed-methods research project on the interplay of identity and motivation of African American STEM undergraduate students. Second, we aim to equip students to conduct research aligned with our approach to race-focused Broadening Participation (BP) research inquiry about African Americans’ identity and motivation using cultural strengths and intersectionality frameworks. This Historically Black Colleges and Universities research for us and by us is distinctive and significant. Our curriculum can be transferred to psychological science BP professional development at a variety of institutions.