| NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 13, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | November 28, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 1701168 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Bernard Grant
bgrant@nsf.gov (703)292-8521 RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $632,424.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $955,737.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2019 = $121,964.00 FY 2023 = $102,955.00 FY 2024 = $98,394.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
615 W 131ST ST NEW YORK NY US 10027-7922 (212)854-6851 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
61 Route 9W Palisades NY US 10964-8000 |
| 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): |
Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES, SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM, IUSE, Integrat & Collab Ed & Rsearch |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 04001920DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| 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
Non-technical:
The science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial to the U.S. health and economy, yet retention rates in STEM fields are poor, and the Geoscience community in particular is faced with a looming workforce shortage. Moreover, the Geoscience community continues to lack the diversity of the population at large. The STEM Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) project is a 3-year partnership between the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, and the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) aimed at addressing three priorities: (1) increasing the number and diversity of students pursuing degrees and careers in geosciences; (2) preparing students for all possible career trajectories in the geosciences; and, (3) contributing to the evidence base for effective student engagement, learning and retention in STEM. The STEMSEAS project is achieving these goals by taking advantage of unused berthing capacity available on UNOLS vessels as they transit between U.S. ports in preparation for their next scientific expedition. These short (~5-7 days) transits offer a unique mobile classroom setting where undergraduate non-STEM, undecided-STEM, and geoscience majors can be exposed to geoscience professional practice and career exploration. By partnering with UNOLS and campus ?champions" at universities, including minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the project sends diverse cohorts of students to sea with a small team of geoscience faculty and mentors. STEMSEAS is built on a pilot-project that sent three cohorts (~10 undergraduate students each) selected from an applicant pool of ~875 students on three different research vessels during 2016. The pilot-project demonstrated the logistical feasibility of the program, and showed through preliminary data a strong potential for positive impact. While at sea, the students engage in a variety of hands-on activities that incorporate geoscience content, lab exercises, data collection/analysis, career exploration, and discussion/reflection. Upon completion of a transit, each participant is required to complete a post-expedition project, which they present back at their home institution, write a short article about their experiences, and participate in post-expedition webinars with other cohort members.
Technical:
The STEM Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) project is a 3-year initiative aimed at addressing three priorities: (1) increasing the number and diversity of students pursuing degrees and careers in geosciences; (2) preparing students for all possible career trajectories in the geosciences; and, (3) contributing to the evidence base for effective student engagement, learning and retention in STEM. Application materials and evaluation surveys are providing data to assess the impact of the STEMSEAS project on student knowledge of and attitudes toward the geosciences and geoscience careers. The STEMSEAS project is designed to add to the evidence base regarding what kinds of experiences and interventions help to increase retention and persistence in geoscience-related majors, and what strategies are most effective at increasing the number and diversity of students entering the geoscience workforce pipeline. By creating innovative learning experiences on board charismatic research vessels, STEMSEAS is gathering data on the effectiveness of novel approaches for engaging students who may never have considered the geosciences as a field of study or career, students who are interested in the geosciences but are unsure of what direction to go, and STEM-interested students who may not have considered the specifics of the geosciences. Through these immersive experiences, STEMSEAS is exploring the effectiveness of short-term but intense learning activities.
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.
The Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) project provided undergraduate students with access to seagoing experiences on vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet during non-expedition ship movements (transits). By leveraging non-operational ship transits, the project took advantage of under-utilized capacity to provide students with powerful, five- to ten-day experiences on charismatic research vessels. Since 2016 STEMSEAS fully supported ~240 undergraduates of its >1000 applicants and the impact has been significant in several ways. Our overarching aim was to expand access to the U.S. Academic Research Fleet for the purpose of broadening participation and improving retention in STEM and geoscience. Survey results indicate measurable progress toward these objectives.
We document two important changes in student perceptions that meaningfully shift following seagoing experiences. First, students come to know of a wider array of career paths that are available to geoscientists. Importantly, these changes happened in a rich context, through direct exposure to the diverse skillsets that are required to support U.S. seagoing science, including those of not only scientists, but also mariners, marine technologists, and engineers. Second, students report increased confidence in their geoscience knowledge. These shifts in perception are important to STEM-identity development and they occurred within a newfound network, i.e., a diverse community of students, ship workers, and mentors.
An additional outcome of STEMSEAS is the development of connections across separate STEM communities that heretofore had limited interaction in the context of mentoring undergraduates. In particular, the project leveraged enthusiastic STEM-inclined undergraduate students to build links between the operations of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet and higher education more broadly. In essence, the project sits at the nexus of higher education and the less familiar seagoing STEM research community. A deep appreciation for the vessels, the people and the research enterprise is expressed in very high ratings of program elements and in responses to open-ended questions. The meaningful connections fostered by STEMSEAS were exemplified by (1) seagoing research opportunities that ship operators made available to STEMSEAS alumni, and (2) ship operators approaching us with other unique opportunities to make use of vessels. Additionally, STEMSEAS initiated a series of professional development programs for two audiences of particular interest in broadening participation - faculty from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and two-year colleges. Both inaugural transit expeditions for these groups resulted in robust development of partnerships, more mentors for STEMSEAS students, and meaningful increases in student applications.
Finally, longitudinal surveys show that program alumni have remained in STEM. An astonishing 47% have participated in science outreach to the broader community in some way, including working with outreach groups at their university, mentoring younger students, or volunteering at science museums. Some of those 47% are working in outreach as a career.
Last Modified: 10/28/2024
Modified by: Sharon K Cooper
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