As the human population increasingly concentrates in urban areas, with associated threats to environmental quality and human health, the field of ecology has the potential to contribute to the development of urban areas that are equitable, resilient and safe. The complexity of these issues requires a comprehensive approach that reflects diverse backgrounds and perspectives. However, the demographic composition of the field remains at odds with the overall US population. Furthermore, many undergraduate students have limited opportunities to develop leadership skills in ecology, while programs based at field stations may not provide the training in urban ecology required to address the unprecedented ecological issues associated with urbanization. To address these issues, we developed Project TRUE (Teens Researching Urban Ecology), a program that provides mentoring training for undergraduate students through oversight of high school students conducting place-based, hands-on ecological research in New York City. To assess the effectiveness of Project TRUE in preparing undergraduate students for an urban future, four cohorts (summers 2015 – 2018) of undergraduate (N = 60) and high school students (N = 191) were assessed using qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Results/Conclusions
Since 2015, 88% of undergraduates and 94% of high school students that have taken part in Project TRUE were from groups underrepresented in the sciences. Overall, results indicate that Project TRUE had a strong positive influence on both undergraduate mentors and high school student mentees. Undergraduates reported Project TRUE influenced all six subscales of the Mentoring Competency Assessment, as well as research skills, with the largest skill gain in the ability to ‘design and conduct a research project’. Undergraduates also reported increases in their ability to ‘make connections between research and societal issues’, and the transferability of the skills they gained to professional contexts beyond research. Undergraduate mentors also had a significant effect on their high school mentees. On a 7-point Likert Scale (1 = “not at all”, 7 = “a lot”), high school mentees reported a mean influence of 6.6 on “understanding of what researchers in science and conservation jobs actually do” and 6.3 on “confidence in doing science”. Similarly, high school mentees reported a mean influence of 6.4 when asked if Project TRUE led to “better research skills” and 6.3 for “I have better science skills”. These results indicate the efficacy of a near-peer research mentoring program by enhancing participant perceptions of the ability to contribute to addressing key ecological issues associated with increasing urbanisation.