Enhancing the Earth and Environmental Science Curricula in a Minority-Serving Institution by Integrating a Particle Size Analyzer

New Jersey City University, Jersey City NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This project is enhancing the Earth and Environmental Science curriculum at New Jersey City University, a Hispanic-Serving Institution with diverse students in an urban setting, through acquisition and integration of an automated particle-size analyzer based on X-ray absorption. The instrument is being used to facilitate inquiry-based learning across a wide range of courses, with a particular focus on contaminated urban soils, and to support placed-based undergraduate research during the summers and in the academic year. The intellectual merit of the project lies in its well-crafted plan to achieve specific learning objectives related to skills in analytical and quantitative reasoning and problem solving. Broader impacts include increasing participation of diverse, urban students in the geoscience workforce, and promoting an interdisciplinary Urban Environmental Science Program that can serve as a model for similar institutions.