Students from Marginalized Communities in Research: A Randomized Control Trial

The Research-Aligned Mentorship (RAM) program at Farmingdale State College is changing the trajectories of racial minority students, students of low socioeconomic status, and first-generation undergraduate students. This article reviews the RAM program from 2016 through 2022. During that period, Farmingdale welcomed seven cohorts of RAM Scholars, totaling 1530 students from historically marginalized groups (or 28 percent of each entering class of first-time, full-time students). This randomized control trial demonstrates that students from marginalized communities who enter college with varying records of prior academic achievement can succeed in undertaking rigorous mentored research. Furthermore, students in the RAM program have achieved superior outcomes in four year graduation, retention, credits earned, and grade point average when compared to the control group of students from the same historically marginalized groups.