HSI Institutional Transformation Project: Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 HSI Institutional Transformation Project (ITP): Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences (CEES), aims to improve retention of students from in STEM majors. Both first-year and transfer students leave declared STEM majors without a meaningful internship experience. Maintaining students in STEM majors is a key step to building the next generation of environmental leaders. By foregrounding the linkages between science and society, STEM faculty at UCSB and Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) will generate innovative approaches to STEM education and novel research questions about the societal implications of science and technology. Finally, CEES will disseminate STEM education best practices to HSI communities through publications and conference presentations. This project facilitates the formation of STEM identities through a new Center for Environmental Sciences to provide mentoring, learning communities, and placement in STEM internships. Mentoring which is informed by the student’s lived experiences coupled with learning communities will foster a greater sense of belonging among STEM majors. In collaboration with the Career Services Center, it will develop a new Environment and Society career track and a professional development program for UCSB and SBCC faculty that develops both pedagogical skills and interdisciplinary research projects that facilitate undergraduate internship opportunities in partnership with non-profit and government agencies. This project aims to serve 1000 students through CEES, mentor 300 students, develop 300 internships, and train 75 faculty across two HSI campuses in professional development activities. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. 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.