Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

It is well-established that technical and research experiences can support undergraduate retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, but little published research examines outcomes for community college students in internships provided by Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories. To address this gap, we examined the academic and career activities of alumni who participated in two DOE-sponsored programs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) between 2009 and 2016: the Community College Internship (CCI) and Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI). Using self-reported academic and career information collected through alumni surveys, we compared outcomes for CCI alumni from community colleges with those for SULI alumni from baccalaureate-granting institutions. Among CCI alumni, 90% earned a STEM bachelor’s degree and 88% were on a STEM career pathway. For SULI alumni, 91% earned a STEM bachelor’s degree and 71% were on a STEM career pathway. Overall, 80% of CCI alumni and 56% of SULI alumni had entered the STEM workforce. In this sample, community college students who completed national laboratory internships completed academic degrees and pursued STEM careers at rates comparable to students from baccalaureate-granting institutions.