Biology subjects

Tuma, T. T.

Publications and source records attributed to Tuma, T. T..

10 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Black women undergraduates' perspectives on how mentors and role models shape their beliefs about the attainability of science research careers

Undergraduate research experiences offer important paths into scientific research careers, yet students do not experience them uniformly. For Black women, these experiences occur within racialized and gendered environments that may shape whether they perceive research careers as attainable. Yet little is known about these influences, including how mentors, role models, and institutional contexts, could support or limit Black womens beliefs about research career attainability. To advance our understanding of these influences, we conducted interviews with 23 Black women who participated in undergraduate research at 18 institutions in the United States, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly White institutions (PWIs). We conducted qualitative content analysis to understand Black women undergraduate researchers perceptions of the attainability of a scientific research career, including the influences of their mentors, role models, and institutional context. Three main themes emerged. First, Black women undergraduates varied in the importance they placed on sharing racial and gender identities with mentors and role models; some viewed such similarities as highly meaningful while others described them as less influential. Second, Black women undergraduates described that mentors and role models who shared similar life experiences, values, attitudes, or beliefs contributed to perceptions that scientific research careers were attainable, regardless of gender or racial similarity. Third, institutional context (HBCU, PWI) shaped how mentoring and role modeling influenced Black women undergraduates perceptions of research career attainability. We conclude by offering recommendations for individuals seeking to support Black women in undergraduate research and in their pursuit of research careers.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2026

Development and field test of an intervention to reduce conflict in faculty-doctoral student mentoring relationships

Mentoring is a critical component of graduate education. However, conflicts can occur between faculty mentors and their graduate students, which can undermine the quality of these relationships. We leveraged attribution theory and relationship science to develop a novel professional development intervention that combines attribution retraining to enhance faculty beliefs that they can improve their mentoring relationships, and conflict management training to build faculty skills in having productive problem-solving conversations with their graduate students. We piloted and refined the intervention, then conducted a field test of the intervention with life science faculty (n = 71) from U.S. universities. Participants were randomly assigned to an asynchronous self-guided condition or to a self-guided + synchronous facilitated peer discussion condition. We measured faculty beliefs, perceived skills, and self-reported behaviors when encountering conflicts before and after participating in the intervention. Faculty in both conditions reported significant reductions in the frequency of conflicts with their students, the time and energy they spent addressing conflicts, and the extent to which conflicts disrupted their research productivity. Faculty also expressed increased confidence that they could manage conflicts. Our results suggest that the intervention has the potential to improve faculty capacity to effectively navigate conflicts with their graduate students. Highlight summaryA mentoring intervention for faculty combining attribution-retraining and conflict management skill-building strengthened faculty self-efficacy and motivational beliefs and reduced mentoring conflicts.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

The currency of research access: How undergraduates leverage social capital to gain research experience

BackgroundScience students who engage in undergraduate research experiences (UREs) benefit in numerous ways, including persisting in science at a higher rate compared to students who do not participate in UREs. However, UREs are a limited commodity and competition for access to these opportunities necessitates further investigation into why certain students succeed in accessing UREs, while others do not. Social capital, or the resources that students extract from their relationships with others, may play a key role in determining who engages in UREs. To begin to address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with students who had recently started UREs (n=21). Informed by Lins conceptual definition of social capital, we qualitatively analyzed these interviews to characterize the social capital that science undergraduates found useful for accessing research. ResultsStudents described leveraging ten unique forms of social capital when accessing UREs that aligned with Lins conceptualization. Specifically, students described utilizing social capital to garner information about available UREs and how to best navigate the path to accessing them, to reinforce their confidence in pursuing UREs, to influence the views of opportunity holders, and to serve as social credentials lending credibility to their aptitude for research. Although students detailed how faculty served as sources of all of these forms of capital, they also described advisors, employers, peers, and family as influential sources. Furthermore, their institutions served as a source of capital, and students themselves engaged in a variety of proactive behaviors to access UREs. ConclusionsHere we describe the forms and sources of social capital that science undergraduates use to access research, which can be used as an operational definition of the construct. Such a definition is necessary for future research aimed at measuring social capital for undergraduate research and identifying its antecedents, correlates, and consequences. We also describe how institutions can serve as sources of capital, and how students proactive behaviors play a role in their pursuit of UREs. This work provides an important starting point for determining the influence of social capital in accessing UREs and further broadening access to research in the sciences.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

How do selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors effect metabolism? A lesson for teaching non-majors about enzymes and metabolic pathways

Understanding foundational concepts in molecular biology and biochemistry can be challenging for many college students. For non-science majors, an introductory biology course may be their sole exposure to college-level science and only opportunity to learn about enzymes and metabolism. Framing these topics within issues that are personally relevant can make the material more meaningful and impactful for non-majors. There is a need to develop curricula that instructors of large-enrollment introductory biology courses can use to teach non-biology majors about enzymes and metabolism. Here, we designed and implemented a lesson that integrates enzyme function and metabolism within the context of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs are a widely prescribed class of antidepressants whose efficacy can be influenced by enzymes. Genetic polymorphisms in the genes encoding these enzymes can result in individual differences in metabolic responses and lead to medication-induced weight gain. Framing the content in this way allows non-major students to connect enzyme function to genetics, energy balance, and metabolic processes through a health-related, societally relevant issue. In our lesson, students engaged in collaborative learning activities that emphasized interpreting biological data, graphing, and scientific reasoning. Pre- and post-assessment data from a conceptual inventory showed learning gains that exceeded baseline data and were greater than those observed with the traditional curriculum. Students also reported a more coherent understanding of enzyme function and a greater appreciation of the contents relevance to their own lives. This lesson provides an example of embedding biochemical concepts in real-world contexts for students who are non-science majors.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

Are they funny? Associations between instructors humor and student emotions in undergraduate lab courses

Instructor use of humor can positively affect students educational experiences by increasing students comfort in the classroom and making the instructor seem more approachable. Humor can also elicit emotional responses, which in turn may influence students engagement in the course and their relationship with the instructor. However, students may interpret instructor humor differently, resulting in varied effects. The present study examined how instructors use of humor relates to students emotions about their lab course. In addition, we examined whether researcher-identified humor aligned with student reports to support valid inferences about instructor humor. To accomplish this, trained researchers analyzed classroom audio recordings of instructor talk in 48 lab courses to identify instances of instructor humor. We also surveyed their undergraduate students (n = 462) about their instructors humor and pleasant and unpleasant emotions about their lab course. Our results revealed that trained researchers coding of instructor humor was poorly predictive of students emotions about their laboratory courses. In contrast, students who perceived their instructor to be humorous reported greater pleasant emotions and fewer unpleasant emotions. Our results suggest that instructor humor from students perspective may be influential in how they experience instruction. In addition, student perceptions of instructor humor may be a more useful indicator than researcher observations for studying instructor humor.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

Family matters! The influence of family, peers, mentors, and professors on STEM college students motivational beliefs and career decision making

Support from family, peers, mentors, and professors has a crucial role in the development of students motivational beliefs about learning. However, the relative importance of each of these social supports in affecting students motivation, and the precise processes through which these social factors motivate students, are not well understood at the college level. The present study examined how family, peers, mentors, and professors shaped science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college students motivational beliefs for career decision making, defining motivational beliefs in accordance with situated expectancy-value theory. We collected survey and open-ended responses from a large sample of college students (n = 2,229) in 42 unique STEM courses at a large, public southeastern university in the United States. We examined how, why, and for whom different social supports influenced students task-value and/or competence related motivational beliefs for career-decision making. Results indicated that students most often selected interactions with family members as influencing their career decision-making, both in terms of overall influences and as the strongest influence, relative to interactions with peers, mentors, or professors. For all social influences, most students reported being attracted in a positive way towards certain careers as a result of social interactions, as opposed to socializers making students disenchanted with careers. Most students described how social supports influenced motivational beliefs related to task values, with comparatively fewer referencing social influences on competence-related beliefs. Findings highlight the important role of multiple social supports, particularly family, in shaping students motivational beliefs and career decision-making throughout emerging adulthood. Educational Impact and Implications StatementPreparing a qualified and diverse STEM workforce requires a robust understanding of the factors that influence college students motivational beliefs and decisions about their career paths. We examined how, why, and for whom support from family, peers, mentors, and professors impacted STEM college students career motivation and decision making, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Results suggest that family plays a particularly crucial role in shaping college students career motivation, especially by helping them see the positive value of particular career paths. Findings help illustrate the importance of different kinds of social support in guiding career choices throughout emerging adulthood.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2024

Seeing isn't believing? Mixed effects of a perspective-getting intervention to improve mentoring relationships for science doctoral students

Science doctoral students can experience negative interactions with faculty mentors and internalize these experiences, potentially leading to self-blame and undermining their research self-efficacy. Helping students perceive these interactions adaptively may protect their research self-efficacy and maintain functional mentoring relationships. We conducted a pre-registered, longitudinal field experiment of a novel perspective-getting intervention combined with attribution retraining to help students avoid self-blame and preserve research self-efficacy. Science doctoral students (n = 155) were randomly assigned to read about mentor perspectives on negative interactions (i.e., Perspective-getting Condition) or about mentoring with no mentor perspective (i.e., control condition). Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no main effects of the intervention on students self-blame or research self-efficacy. However, for students with lower pre-intervention mentorship relationship satisfaction, the intervention preserved research self-efficacy six months later. This study provides evidence that perspective getting may be protective for students who are most in need of relationship intervention. Educational Relevance and Implications StatementEffective mentoring relationships are fundamental for promoting the success of doctoral students in science, yet not all mentoring relationships are high quality. This study assessed the effectiveness of a brief perspective-getting intervention (where students are given the perspective of what it is like to be a research mentor) that aimed to protect science doctoral students from blaming themselves for negative interactions with faculty mentors and maintain their research self-efficacy. Results showed that on average across all students, the intervention did not affect students self-blame for negative interactions or their research self-efficacy. However, the intervention did help students with less satisfying mentoring relationships maintain their self-efficacy. Thus, perspective-getting shows some promise for protecting science doctoral students from harm that can be caused by negative interactions with faculty mentors.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2024

CRISPR knockout of winter-biased SUT4 alters phenology, biomass accrual, and fertility of field-grown hybrid poplar

Climate uncertainty is intensifying the need for greater plasticity in carbohydrate reserve utilization to support winter survival and spring growth in woody perennials. In poplar, the single-copy SUT4, which encodes a tonoplast-localized sucrose transporter, and the SUT5/SUT6 genome duplicates, which encode plasma membrane-localized transporters, are expressed year-round, with SUT4 showing highest expression during cool seasons. Given its role in vacuolar sucrose efflux and winter-predominant expression, SUT4 may play a key role in modulating seasonal carbohydrate dynamics. While SUT4-knockdown and knockout effects have been studied under greenhouse conditions, their impact under field conditions remains unexplored. Here, we report a field-based study comparing CRISPR knockout mutants of winter-expressed SUT4 and SUT5/SUT6 in Populus tremula x alba. We show that sut4, but not sut56, mutants exhibited earlier autumn leaf senescence, delayed spring bud flush, reduced stem growth, and altered sugar partitioning in winter xylem and bark relative to controls. After two years in the field, all genotypes flowered before leaf flush in early spring; however, sut4 mutants produced sterile ovules despite developing normal-looking catkins. Metabolic profiling revealed disrupted sucrose and raffinose dynamics in elongating sut4 catkins, accompanied by transcriptomic signatures of elevated stress and downregulation of proanthocyanidin biosynthesis and circadian clock genes. These findings highlight the critical role of SUT4 in coordinating sugar allocation, stress responses, and seasonal development in poplar. Significance statementThis field study demonstrates that loss of SUT4, the most highly expressed sucrose transporter during cool seasons, disrupts phenology, growth, and fertility in poplar. Altered sugar and raffinose dynamics and transcriptomic signatures of stress and circadian clock gene dysregulation in the mutants underscore SUT4s role in coordinating sugar allocation and seasonal developmental transitions under natural environmental conditions.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Sucrose or starch? The influence of tonoplast sucrose transporter perturbation on carbon partitioning for growth, defense, and winter protection in coppiced poplar

Non-structural carbohydrate reserves of stems and roots underpin overall tree fitness. These reserves also contribute to productivity under short-rotation management practices such as coppicing for bioenergy. While sucrose and starch comprise the predominant carbohydrate reserves of Populus, utilization is understood primarily in terms of starch turnover. The tonoplast sucrose transport protein SUT4 modulates sucrose export from source leaves to distant sinks during photoautotrophic growth, but the possibility of its involvement in remobilizing carbohydrates from sinks during heterotrophic growth has not been explored. Here, we used PtaSUT4-knockout mutants of Populus tremula x P. alba (INRA 717-1B4) in winter (cool) and summer (warm) glasshouse coppicing experiments to strain carbon demand and test for SUT4 involvement in reserve utilization. We show that epicormic bud emergence, subsequent growth, and xylem hexose increases were delayed or reduced in sut4 mutants following lower temperature winter coppicing. Depletion of stem reserves during post-coppice regrowth was not impaired in sut4, but sut4 winter maintenance costs may have been higher in metabolic terms. Bark accrual of abundant defense metabolites, including salicinoids, chlorogenic acids, and flavonoid products, was prioritized in the summer, but attenuated in sut4 mutants. Summer sprout growth was not reduced in sut4 compared to controls. Together, our results point to shifting priorities for SUT4 modulation of seasonal trade-offs between growth and other priorities in the stem and emerging buds during reserve utilization in Populus.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Development and Validation of the Mentoring in Undergraduate Research Survey

Here we present the development and initial validation of the Mentoring in Undergraduate Research Survey (MURS) as a measure of a range of mentoring experienced by undergraduate science researchers. We drafted items based on qualitative research and refined the items through cognitive interviews and expert sorting. We used national dataset to evaluate the internal structure of the measure and a second national dataset to examine how responses on the MURS related to theoretically-relevant constructs and student characteristics. Our factor analytic results indicate seven lower order forms of mentoring experiences: abusive supervision, accessibility, career and technical support, psychosocial support, interpersonal mismatch, sexual harassment, and unfair treatment. These forms of mentoring mapped onto two higher-order factors: supportive and destructive mentoring experiences. Although most undergraduates reported experiencing supportive mentoring, some reported experiencing absence of supportive as well as destructive experiences. Undergraduates who experienced less supportive and more destructive mentoring also experienced lower scientific integration and a dampening of their beliefs about the value of research. The MURS should be useful for investigating the effects of mentoring experienced by undergraduate researchers and for testing interventions aimed at fostering supportive experiences and reducing or preventing destructive experiences and their impacts. Highlight summaryThis study presents the development and initial validation of the Mentoring in Undergraduate Research Survey, including evidence of its internal structure as well as convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity.

scientific communication and education↗