Bridging the Diversity Gap: Research Experiences in the Geosciences for Community College Students and Transfers

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

This two-year pilot project at Iowa State University is introducing a cohort of talented community college students and transfers to collaborative research experiences in environmental geosciences through a ten-week summer internship. Building on an ongoing Research Experience for Undergraduates in the biogeosciences, this project has the objectives to (1) recruit talented females, nontraditional students, and underrepresented minority students from community colleges and provide them with opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research in the geosciences; (2) provide exposure to different scientific approaches, cyberinfrastructure and experimental methods; (3) introduce students to the presentation of scientific results through publication and presentation; and (4) motivate students to pursue careers in the geosciences and other STEM fields. Students work closely with teams including internationally recognized faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and other undergraduate students. Students will participate in a series of workshops and seminars addressing issues such as research methodology, career planning, and ethics in scientific research. Also included in the program are field trips, social activities, and other community-building and enrichment activities designed to foster cohesiveness and camaraderie among the students as a multicultural group and to enhance their appreciation of scientific research. The experience will conclude with a research symposium at which students will present their work to faculty, peers, and scientists from local, state and federal agencies. By stressing interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cutting processes that typify environmental systems, this project exposes students to not only their own individual research projects, but also the integration of those individual efforts into a larger system-wide context. In addition, by introducing community college students to the research that unravels the environmental processes in human-dominated landscapes and ecosystems, students will obtain requisite training for a broad array of future academic and professional careers in the geosciences and related STEM disciplines.