
NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | June 21, 2017 |
Latest Amendment Date: | June 23, 2023 |
Award Number: | 1700920 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Brandon Jones
mbjones@nsf.gov (703)292-4713 RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | August 1, 2017 |
End Date: | September 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $160,793.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $160,793.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
5998 ALCALA PARK FRNT SAN DIEGO CA US 92110-2476 (619)260-6825 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
5998 Alcala Park San Diego CA US 92110-2492 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Part 1:
A significant shortage of United States geoscientists is predicted by 2022. Recruitment and training of a diverse workforce of geologists and related scientists is critical for national health, prosperity, welfare and defense. However, recruitment of underrepresented minorities into geosciences faces many obstacles. This project employs novel high-impact educational practices to increase the number and diversity of geoscience majors entering the geoscience career pipeline and trains K-12 teachers to inspire their students? interest in geosciences. Underrepresented students and pre-service teachers will engage in innovative marine geoscience
experiences, mentoring programs, and courses using exciting technologies, career opportunity exposure, and hands-on learning. This project will target and recruit underrepresented students into geoscience majors at a private liberal arts university and a Minority (Hispanic-Serving) Institution that has a high percentage of rural, low-income, first-generation students who have very little exposure to marine science. We will evaluate the impact of engaging exposure to oceanography on the recruitment and retention of geoscience students and the preparation of K-12 teachers. Under the mentorship of research scientists, students will conduct authentic research, advancing our understanding of marine resources and environmental changes on the Pacific margin of the U.S.
Part 2:
The proposed project is an inter-institutional, co- and extra-curricular, participatory field-based oceanographic research program in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) to train and inspire diverse students to pursue careers in the geosciences. This program will integrate students from a private urban coastal campus (University of San Diego; USD) with generally rural, minority, low-income students from a minority-serving public inland campus, California State Univ., Bakersfield (CSUB), with established ?geoscience career pipelines? to bring high-school students into geoscience majors and place graduates with geoscience employers. We intend to examine the idea that a multifaceted approach including integrated marine science experiences in the lab, at sea and in the classroom can enhance recruitment and retention of students in the geosciences. This project builds on a successful program of shipboard education/research developed by USD and Rathburn. The broad goals of the program are to: 1) Increase oceanographic research and education opportunities at a minority-serving institution (CSUB); 2) recruit underrepresented students into geoscience programs; 3) engage geoscience majors, non-majors, and educators in shipboard and follow-up oceanographic research and internships in partnership with
Scripps Institution of Oceanography; 4) enable students to conduct authentic oceanographic research using techniques employed by industry, government and marine researchers; 5) train pre-service teachers with mentors; 6) develop and test a virtual research voyage and exportable laboratory modules; 7) assess program efficacy and examine the influence of this approach on recruitment and retention; and 8) disseminate research findings. As a consequence of this multifaceted approach to sustainable geoscience recruitment and
engagement, we will quantitatively evaluate the value and impact of: a) unique experiential learning at sea as a means to engage geoscience majors; b) oceanography and paleontology as means to attract non-majors to geosciences; c) the educational and recruitment/retention value of course integration with hands-on learning at sea; d) teacher/researcher mentorship and program
engagement on pre-service teacher interest and competence in geosciences; and e) the use of sustainable marine educational materials as a means to engage teachers and attract students to geosciences. This sustainable project will: a) increase recruitment of diverse underrepresented students into the ?geoscience career pipeline?, b) improve interest, knowledge of career opportunities, preparation, and competency to enter and move through different stages of the GCP, c) generate novel curricula that incorporate authentic research and oceanographic samples into high-school and college courses, d) high-school teachers who have increased willingness, enthusiasm, and confidence to integrate geoscience research into their classrooms, and e) disseminate ?lessons learned? from this program which will contribute to the evidence base about novel, multifaceted approaches to increase students? interest, preparation, and success in
geoscience careers.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Our project, "GEOPATHS multi-institutional program of shipboard oceanographic research" was designed to inspire and train diverse students to pursue careers in the geosciences through experiential research at sea and in the laboratory, and to assess the effectiveness of this approach. We know that Geosciences is under-represented in minority students because of limited experience with the subject, lack of exposure to outdoors and poor perceptions about job prospects in the field. To counter these perceptions, our project was built around three 4-day and nine 12-hour research voyages aboard four UNOLS research vessels. We engaged >180 undergraduate students targeting undecided majors and pre-service teachers and funded 20 students in two month full-time mentored research internships using materials returned from the voyages.?Voyage samples were curated along with "virtual voyage" materials available to teachers. In addition to students, the program included training for pre-service teachers, as well as career outreach and assessment, including an education-oriented dissertation. The voyages focused on factors that affect marine sedimentation and ecological relationships between modern benthic foraminifera and their environment to address past climate change.?During the voyages, teams of participants from different universities and education levels worked together on deployment and recovery of oceanographic instruments and processing of seafloor sediment, water samples, plankton samples and geophysical data.?Some students who participated on a summer voyage served as mentors for novice students in a following voyage.?Most of the student participants had never been at sea and some had never seen the ocean, and living and working at sea was a novel, life-changing experience. The immersive 24-hour working environment aboard ship also provided unique opportunities for professional socialization. In addition to our institutions, we sent students to conduct research as interns at institutions such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) or the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington DC.??Ultimately, these research internships will result in presentations at international scientific meetings and peer reviewed publications. The project resulted in two new courses in oceanography added at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) and the University of San Diego (USD) and multi-week lab projects based on cruise samples incorporated into upper-level courses.??A total of 3 marine-oriented, diversity faculty were hired in geoscience departments at CSUB and USD. ?Besides new curricula and outreach, one of the main outcomes from this program was that GEOPATHS students have applied or intend to apply for geoscience graduate school or careers. The majority of interns plan to pursue grad school in oceanography, geoscience or STEM. Our program assessment was generally consistent with conclusions from a Ed.D dissertation based largely on interviews with GEOPATHS students from underrepresented groups. We found that participation in research at sea was a transformative experience.? Faculty mentorship in all aspects of science was a critical element in engaging the students in STEM. For example, some student reflections include: "The Scripps internship has given me the courage to pursue higher education..." "It was fun to work with my professor at 3 in the morning..." "Everyone had a variety of jobs to fulfill; we were all treated like real scientists..." "This experience gave me insight to potential careers and lifestyles that I didn't know were an option for me..." "...the experience really solidified my plan of getting into paleontology." In summary, the immersive research experiences provided students with more confidence, skills and knowledge, career templates and pathways, and a better understanding of geoscience and STEM research.
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Last Modified: 01/27/2024
Modified by: Sarah C Gray
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