| NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 21, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 21, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1801589 |
| 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 15, 2018 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $17,009.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $17,009.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
351 W UNIVERSITY BLVD CEDAR CITY UT US 84720-2415 (435)865-8175 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
351 West University Blvd Cedar City UT US 84720-2415 |
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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
Many college STEM majors are unaware of the multitude of geoscience careers available to them. This particularly applies to students from rural areas who are the first in their family to attend college. These students are often academically gifted, but feel that they have to enter the workforce directly upon graduating with a BS degree, often due to financial hardship. This short-circuits these students' ability to participate in more intellectually demanding, rewarding, and lucrative geoscience careers, and limits the potential for universities to meet the projected future demands for the nation's geoscience workforce. To address this issue, the RiGs (Road maps into the Geosciences) summer program will form a multi-institutional alliance among the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T), Southern Utah University, Kutztown University (Pennsylvania), state/federal agencies in Missouri, and the private sector. The goal of RiGs is to (i) facilitate exposure of financially challenged STEM students from rural areas, at minimal to zero costs, to a wide array of geoscience career pathways, and (ii) to highlight the educational tracks and professional skills necessary to pursue those tracks. The RiGs program will provide an academic and professional development opportunity for financially challenged undergraduate students that these students would normally forego, thus serving as a pilot for increasing the economic competitiveness of the U.S. through rural workforce development.
RiGs (Road maps into the Geosciences) will establish a recurring two-month summer program on the Missouri S&T campus that will help undergraduate students to successfully transition into the post-baccalaureate geoscience workforce. The focus is to immerse the students into an active research and/or private sector work environment that will allow them to develop academic and professional skills typically not taught in the classroom. Students will learn these skills through an Introduction to Geoscience Research Methodologies class, a mentored research project or job shadowing at state/federal agencies in Missouri, and a series of extracurricular activities. The Introduction to Geoscience Research Methodologies class is designed to provide context for the active, hands-on learning of practical skills applicable to geoscience research. As part of individual research projects, the students will be paired with Missouri S&T graduate students to guarantee full immersion into an active graduate research environment (i.e., the "Grad School Experience"). Job shadowing at the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will provide participating students with unique insight into the daily life of a professional geoscientist, which will be complemented by a career day at the Doe Run lead mining company in Missouri. Furthermore, extracurricular activities throughout the summer program (team building exercises, mock job interviews, oral presentation skill development) will help students acquire the necessary professional and social skills for a successful geoscience career.
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.
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.
Roadmaps Into The Geosciences (RIGS): An Undergraduate Student Career Development Program
Many college STEM majors are pursuing undergraduate degrees without knowledge of the multitude of geoscience careers available to them. From 2019-2022, we hosted the 4 week undergraduate RiGS summer program on the Missouri S&T campus with three primary goals.
1) Expose undergraduate students to the variety of career paths in the Geosciences.
2) Define degree and certificate requirements for each of the common career paths.
3) Start the training of students to help them pursue such career paths (research and soft skills).
The RiGS summer program provided the following career development components for the participating students: i) a series of professional development lectures including topics such as Geoscience job opportunities, degree requirements, graduate school choice and application, research requirements and skills, oral and written communication skills; ii) training of advanced geoscience skills directly applicable to the job market; iii) Job-shadowing at the USGS, Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the US Forest Service; iv) invited career presentations by government agencies (USGS, DNR) and the private sector (Doe Run Mining company, Chevron ETC); v) Professional skills workshops on topics such as resume writing and interview skills; and vi) Research mentoring for students working on an undergraduate research project.
The project results from the pre- and post-program surveys show that students did not have a clear understanding of the career opportunities or the degree requirements prior to the start of the program. Only 14% of those surveyed felt that they understood the careers available to them and only 21% thought they knew of the degree requirements. After the program, 90% felt that they understood what careers were available to them and 97% understood which degrees were required for the common career paths. In addition to general degree information, the program focused on hard and soft skills, resume construction, and research skills. Prior to the program, only 40% of students felt that their resumes were professional and ready for use; 93% felt good about their resumes after the program. Only 17% of students agreed that they understood which hard skills would translate to careers, and 24% felt the same about soft skills. Following the program, students responded with 100% and 97% agreement, respectively, to those questions regarding hard and soft skills. Finally, 27% of respondents were aware of the necessary research skills for success in geosciences prior to RiGS. 100% felt comfortable with the research skills following RiGS.
In summary, the RiGS program succeeded in addressing the outlined goals and the nature of the program, its components and execution make it very suitable to extension to other STEM disciplines.
Last Modified: 11/28/2022
Modified by: Jason F Kaiser
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