GP-IMPACT: GeoCAT Workshop: Geoscience Careers Ambassador Training Workshop: Manhattan, KS -Summer 2020

Kansas State University, Manhattan KS

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 The emphasis on recruiting and supporting underrepresented students in to major in geosciences is important to building a strong geosciences workforce in the future, particularly in Kansas, with industries that depend heavily on the existence and effective management of water, energy and other natural resources. The long-term economic health of Kansas depends on strengthening the knowledge of STEM careers and successfully integrating minority students into the STEM workforce. This project proposes to increase participation in geosciences by creating a Geosciences Career Ambassador Training (GeoCAT) Workshop for educators from minority serving high schools and community colleges in Kansas as well as Kansas 4-H Youth Development (YD) educators and volunteers. The workshop will establish institutional collaborations that provide sustainable mechanisms for facilitating transitions of students from high schools and community colleges to a four-year geology undergraduate program. With involvement of Kansas 4-H YD educators, the collaborations are beyond institutional limits and involves communities across all one hundred and five counties of Kansas. Part 2 This project proposes to create a strong collaborative network of educators and community volunteers, as GeoCAT ambassadors, with common interests in geoscience diversity and the expertise needed to tackle the challenge of increasing participation in geoscience. PIs will create and refine a model, using a workshop format, for improving recruitment of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. The GeoCAT workshop will last five days during the summer each year for 3 years and include 30 participants as well as numerous geoscience professionals as role models and mentors. Design elements of the workshop are: (1) targeted recruitment of participants from minority serving institutions and Kansas 4-H YD volunteers, (2) mentee-mentor relationships, (3) regular evaluation, and (4) outreach. Participants and mentors will work together during the workshops to produce geoscience career related materials to use in their curriculum or during after school programs at their home institutions and and local communities to introduce identities of geoscientists to youth and students and help them gain the skills needed to be proactive forces in their communities. 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.