Collaborative Research: Implementation Grant: Navigating Home

University Of The Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie VI

Investigators

Abstract

Navigating Home will support recent on- and off-island graduates in the geosciences by placing them in new, marine and environmental science job opportunities. Navigating Home is designed to contribute to the creation of a marine and environmental science research community that reflects the population of U.S. regions like Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The goals of Navigating Home are to: (1) bring back, train, and retain islanders who have Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in the marine and environmental sciences, and who are interested in being part of their home island’s workforce; (2) strengthen partnerships between island-based universities and their local partners through joint decision-making and co-design; (3) provide training related to public engagement with science and community engagement; and (4) share these innovative strategies and partnerships, that could serve as model examples within and beyond the island communities in which they are based. Navigating Home will contribute to the local geoscience learning ecosystems and serve as a model program in enhancing geoscience, stabilizing STEM career pathways, and combating “brain drain” that affects many rural communities and especially, U.S. territories. The project will foster workforce opportunities in the islands through partnerships between universities and local organizations. Inter-institutional partnerships will help mitigate traditional obstacles and training silos while also addressing curricular misalignment between the undergraduate and graduate stages, especially for those students at Minority Serving Institutions that may lack access to graduate programs and faculty. Through this project and its collaborators, the workforce needed to enhance environmental and economic sustainability in the islands will be nurtured and given the tools to be impactful 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.