» Program Impacts

The Minority Travel Fellowship Program benefits from annual formative feedback from program participants and regular 5-year follow up surveys of past participants to assess long-term program impacts. Links to reports on the follow-up survey results are provided in the Resources below.

Summary of Findings: APS-NIDDK Minority Travel Fellows, 1987-2004

In 2000, with support from the NIDDK, the APS began a study of 1987-2004 Travel Fellows to gather information on their career paths and their perceptions of the impact of the Fellowship on their career. The vast majority of past Fellows indicated that they were a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, or employed physiologist at the time of the survey. All but one of the responding employed Fellows was currently working in a science-related field, either in research, policy, education, or science writing. The vast majority of the employed past Fellows had earned at least one degree beyond the bachelor’s degree. Three-quarters of the employed respondents had earned a Ph.D., mostly in biomedical fields (physiology, pharmacology, and neuroscience). Nearly three-quarters of the postdoctoral past Fellows and more than half of the graduate students cited professional networking as an important benefit of the program. Both students and employed past Fellows cited the importance of sharing common experiences with other Fellows as important. Some noted that meeting other minorities had provided them with specific role models who were successful in their field and that this inspired both commitment and confidence. Postdoctoral and employed past Fellows felt that the Fellowships allowed them to attend conferences that they would not normally have been able to attend. This gave them additional options for expanding their knowledge of related fields, their contacts in those fields, and their visibility to colleagues. Several respondents noted the dedication and personal interest that the APS staff had in their training and their careers. Employed past Fellows noted that they had become involved in APS as a Society member due to their initial involvement in the Travel Fellowship program. Finally, several graduate students noted that the program helped keep them focused on their career goals because they could see the progress of their fellow awardees, especially those who had been at several APS meetings.

Past Fellows were asked about the benefits and detriments of having a meeting mentor as part of the Fellowship. Most comments were very positive, with more than 20% of respondents citing the guidance, advice, and encouragement they had received from the meeting mentors as important benefits. Not all past Fellows perceived the meeting mentor experience as beneficial, however. Some did not have a chance to meet their mentor or did not remember meeting their mentor. This was more likely for employed past Fellows than for postdoctoral fellows or graduate students. Past Fellows were more frustrated with the experience if their mentor was unable to attend the orientation session (2%) or to meet with the Fellow more than one time at the meeting (4%). Overall, the large majority of past Fellows who responded to the survey pointed out strong benefits of the meeting mentor component, while the number of past Fellows who were frustrated or disappointed by the experience was relatively small.

More than 50% of graduate students and more than 40% of postdoctoral students and employed past Fellows had kept in contact with one or more fellow awardees following their fellowship. Somewhat smaller percentages had kept in contact with their meeting mentees.

Overall, the findings of this retrospective study suggest that the program has been highly successful in achieving its objectives.