REU Site: IRIS Undergraduate Summer Research in Seismology

Earthscope Consortium Inc., Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The primary goal of this project is to encourage more students, representing a more diverse population, to choose careers in Earth science. The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), a consortium of over 120 research universities and institutions dedicated to monitoring the Earth and exploring its interior through the collection and distribution of seismological data, will accomplish this by providing at least 10 undergraduate students per year with research experiences as part of a 9 to 11-week internship program. Participants will attend an intensive week-long preparatory course that will help build a support system amongst the cohort. Then the students will work with leaders in the seismological community, in both lab-base and field-based settings, to conduct research. The program is designed to provide participants with close mentoring from their research mentor and the program's alumni mentor to guide not only their scientific research, but also to enable their own personal growth, skill development, and scientific identity. Throughout the summer students complete weekly assignments designed and sequenced to enable the production of a suite of work products that will become the foundation for presenting their results, provide opportunities to reflect on their work and solidify learning gains, and allow them to benefit from experiences of prior participants. The culmination of each student's internship experience is the opportunity to attend a professional conference and present the results of their summer research. Such experiences bring closure to the research project, offers undergraduate student interns an opportunity to share their experience and expertise with their new peer community, and provides meaningful exposure to the full spectrum of Earth science research as a viable career option. The primary work of this project will be to provide undergraduate research opportunities (URO) within the field of seismological research. However, this proposal also seeks to improve the scientific communities understanding of and ability to improve both the short and long-term impacts of UROs on undergraduates as they consider and pursue careers within the geosciences. Through this project we will target three aspects of a URO that, when viewed through the lens of a cognitive apprenticeship, have the ability to influence student outcomes. First, we seek to develop and pilot a curriculum that contributes towards the development of a more inclusive geoscience culture that is resistant to all forms of harassment and discrimination. Next, we seek to develop resources for mentors in the seismology community to successfully assess undergraduates research skills and use these assessments to mentor undergraduates. Finally, we seek to develop resources and programing to enable undergraduates to develop and embrace their own science identity. Data to both measure the impact of the URO on students and efficacy of the resources developed will be collected from both mentors and mentees through surveys, semi-structured interviews, and professional and academic artifacts (e.g. abstracts, papers, technical reports, presentations). The program will also work collaboratively with other REU sites to collect similar data, especially when measuring the efficacy of URO resources. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.