GP-GO: Geoscience workforce development through training inclusive geoscience leaders for a diverse talent pool.

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The study of the Earth, including its structure, surface, and history, is a broad collection of disciplines known as the geosciences. As society grapples with ever-increasing amounts of information and the expanding impacts of climate change, water and land use, and natural hazards, the geosciences play critical roles in understanding the environmental impacts and sustainability of a transition to low-carbon energy and in tangible, multi-faceted applications of computational and data sciences. Training new geoscientists to tackle the planet’s challenges is therefore both urgent and vital. At the same time, the geosciences community suffers from a lack of diversity and equitable representation. This in turn means that the geosciences do not benefit from the full range of human talents and perspectives, the implications of which reverberate through not only the research itself but also inequitable application of sustainable and data-based solutions for American communities. Therefore, increasing pathways for entry into the geosciences as well as training rising geoscientists to be inclusive leaders are equally urgent and vital. This project aims to be a part of the answer this call by pairing two goals in one initiative. The first goal is to train and guide PhD students in inclusive mentoring and leadership by pairing them one-on-one with rising high school seniors in individual summer research projects and guiding the mentoring process between graduate researchers and students. The second goal is to bring hands-on research experience to local high-school students, prioritizing those from underrepresented backgrounds, so that they can learn about the range of opportunities in geoscience and its value and relevance as a STEM discipline and so that they have an easier transition into college. Training future geoscience professionals in inclusive mentoring and leadership of a diverse group of talented pre-college students will help participating individuals at both levels to not only remain in or intentionally choose a geoscience career, but to thrive and positively impact society for a sustainable relationship with a myriad of Earth and environmental systems. This project applies a two-pronged approach that targets students at distinct critical junctures in geoscience talent pathways: 1) professional development of graduate students working towards academic and non-academic careers in geoscience, and 2) providing paid, multi-week summer internships to high-school students deciding on colleges and majors. The two main goals of this program are 1) to solidify graduate students' attitudes and identities as geoscience leaders and lifelong mentors, and 2) to provide mentored research experiences to incentivize the diverse college-bound high school students to intentionally choose geoscience as a major. Each high-school summer intern completes an individual Earth or environmental science project under supervision and mentorship from a graduate student mentor, in conjunction with organized and cohort-based exposure to computing and data science, field work and instrumentation, and communication. The graduate student mentors are formally trained to support cross-cultural relationship and advised in the practice of mentoring via a series of workshops and individual feedback sessions administered by a faculty mentoring expert. The interns' projects are guided by project proposals written by the graduate students and revised with coaching from the faculty project leaders. This proposal was funded through support from the Directorate for STEM Education's IUSE Program and will be managed by the Directorate for Geoscience's GEOPAths Program. 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.