Redlining Property Flood Dataset

Open MIND · 2026-02-19

Building-level 100-year and 500-year flood exposure datasets including HOLC grades, city identifiers, and coastal/non-coastal designations used for analyses. Flood depths reflect the FSF-FM middle-ground projection for 2020, corresponding to CMIP5 RCP4.5, retrieved via the FSF API (March 2021).

Redlining Property Flood Dataset

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-02-19

Building-level 100-year and 500-year flood exposure datasets including HOLC grades, city identifiers, and coastal/non-coastal designations used for analyses. Flood depths reflect the FSF-FM middle-ground projection for 2020, corresponding to CMIP5 RCP4.5, retrieved via the FSF API (March 2021).

Graduate school choice: how STEM students in the USA decide where to enroll

International Journal of STEM Education · 2026-01-08

There is a dearth of research on which factors students consider when selecting among STEM graduate programs. This is an important knowledge gap because of the value of graduate STEM education to individuals and society. We leverage interview data collected in 2022 from rising seniors after they completed summer undergraduate research programs at different US universities and again in 2023 when they were in their first semester of graduate school (n = 12). We examine how first-semester STEM graduate students from across the US conducted their search and made choices about where to enroll. Qualitative analysis revealed that students considered potential faculty advisor research and mentorship, program characteristics (e.g., reputation), funding packages, and geography, but weighed those differently during the search vs. choice phases. Geography and program reputation mattered more during the search phase than choice phase. Faculty advisors were important in both phases with the potential for high-quality mentorship becoming more important during the choice phase. Preferences for diversity cross-cut the considerations in both phases, relating to geography (e.g., potential to experience racism in a place), program characteristics (e.g., gender diversity of faculty), and advisor demographics. Students took a holistic view toward funding, weighing cost of living, type of funding, and other benefits in addition to the amount. They did not always take their offer with the highest funding amount, although the provision of a sufficient funding package was essential. Mentorship from summer undergraduate research mentors was critical during the search phase but absent during the choice phase. In terms of potential implications, graduate programs should partner with undergraduate research programs to intentionally build bridges between faculty and prospective applicants. In addition to providing adequate funding packages, graduate programs should create opportunities for students to connect with faculty as part of their recruitment strategy, as this is critical to students’ choices.

Unequal Success: Race‐Intentional Approach Reveals Divergent Asian and White Realities in STEM Mentoring

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026-02-01

The model minority myth casts Asians as seamlessly integrated into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields through merit alone. This narrative often leads researchers to treat Asians as statistically similar to Whites or as a homogeneous group. Our study challenges this framing by examining how race is experienced within STEM mentoring relationships between undergraduates and their faculty or postgraduate mentors. We employ a race-intentional methodology with three components: (1) centering race consciousness in mentoring as a key indicator of racialized experience; (2) disaggregating Asian and White experiences; and (3) analyzing how race intersects with gender and power positioning (mentors vs. mentees). Using survey data from 709 participants in STEM research programs, we find that Asians generally report greater race consciousness than their White counterparts, with particularly heightened awareness among Asian women and nonbinary individuals. Asian undergraduate mentees report significantly more race consciousness than White mentees, but this disparity disappears at the mentor level. These findings expose critical flaws in both the meritocratic ideals of STEM and the model minority narrative-especially at a time when Asian achievement is increasingly being politically and legally weaponized to promote colorblind ideologies.

Multigenerational exposures to polluting industries and developmental disabilities

The Science of The Total Environment · 2025-06-13

Animal models suggest that environmental exposures can impact future generations of offspring. Yet, there are limited human epidemiological studies of multigenerational environmental exposures, and even fewer such studies of maternal and paternal exposures. Leveraging a unique data resource in Utah (USA), we examine if offspring (F2, n = 6380) are at increased risk of intellectual disability (ID) if the mother or father (F1) were exposed to polluting industrial facilities while their own mothers (F0) were pregnant. We obtained historical data on polluting industry locations and calculated facility densities within 3 km and 5 km of each child's (F2) grandmothers' (F0) residential addresses at time of their mothers' and fathers' (F1) births as well as their mother's address at the time of their birth. We weighted those counts by pairing industry codes with national Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators health risk scores. One standard deviation (SD) increase in the density of facilities near the pregnant maternal grandmother was associated with 1.12 (1.03–1.22) and 1.09 (1.003–1.19) times greater odds of ID at 3 km and 5 km, respectively. Weighing these facility densities by risk, odds ratios associated with SD increases were 1.12 (1.04–1.20, 3 km) and 1.08 (1.003–1.17, 5 km). Associations with facility densities near the pregnant paternal grandmother were positive but weak. Associations with risk-weighted facility density near the pregnant paternal grandmother were stronger at 5 km (1.12, 1.02–1.22) than at 3 km. Results indicated that ancestral exposures, particularly when the maternal grandmother (F0) was pregnant with the mother (F1), may increase risks of developmental disabilities in the next generation (F2). • Research on multigenerational environmental exposures in humans is rare. • We examined intellectual disability (ID) in children using the Utah Population Database. • Maternal grandmothers' industrial exposures were positively related to ID risk. • There is a stronger signal for maternal vs. paternal grandmothers' exposures. • Results suggest that environmental exposures can impact multiple human generations.

Disparities in Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution Exposures at the US-Mexico Border: The Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Older Age

Preprints.org · 2025-04-21

Background: Environmental justice research in the United States (US) documents greater air pollution exposures for Hispanic/Latino vs. non-Hispanic White groups. This research has not focused on the intersection of race/ethnicity and older age nor short-term fine particular matter (PM2.5) exposures. We address those limitations in a study of US metropolitan area census tracts within 100 km of the US-Mexico border, a region with serious air quality issues. Methods: We use US Census American Community Survey data to construct sociodemographic variables and Environmental Protection Agency Downscaler data to construct long-term and short-term measures of PM2.5 exposure. Using multivariable generalized estimating equations, we test for differences in PM2.5 exposures between census tracts with higher vs. lower proportions of Hispanic/Latino older residents and non-Hispanic White older residents. Results: As the proportion of the Hispanic/Latino population ≥65 years of age increases, long-term and short-term PM2.5 exposures significantly increase. In contrast, as the proportion of the non-Hispanic White population ≥65 years of age increases, changes in long-term and short-term PM2.5 exposures are statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Findings illuminate how race/ethnicity and older age intersect in shaping PM2.5 exposure disparities and may inform efforts to mitigate air pollution exposures for older Hispanic/Latino people along the US-Mexico border.

The Impact of Postgraduate Mentors on Undergraduate Researcher Gains

CBE—Life Sciences Education · 2025-04-11 · 1 citations

= 229) revealed that having a different gender identity than one's postgraduate mentor, having a competent postgraduate mentor, having a graduate student mentor, and spending more than 26 weekly hours with a postgraduate mentor were associated with greater science identity, personal, and intellectual gains. Matching with one's postgraduate mentor based on racial identity was associated with greater science identity gains. We also find that Hispanic and multiracial/other race students gained more compared with their White peers, and transgender and gender nonconforming students gained less compared with their men peers. Because the attributes and behaviors of postgraduate mentors are integral to undergraduate research experiences, analysts and practitioners should treat postgraduate mentorship as an essential part of the undergraduate research enterprise.

Micro-level inequalities in plumbing completeness along the US–Mexico borderlands

Nature Water · 2025-07-14 · 2 citations

Multiple Mentors’ Competency and Undergraduate Researchers’ Science Identity

Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research · 2025-01-01

Recommended Citation: Avondet, Callie L., Yolanda Chavez, Sara E. Grineski, Danielle X. Morales, Timothy W. Collins. 2025. Multiple Mentors’ Competency and Undergraduate Researchers’ Science Identity. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate […]

Contextualizing food apartheid through a racial capitalism analysis: The case of Utah’s Wasatch Front, USA

Journal of Race Ethnicity and the City · 2025-10-24