Online Weather Studies: Promoting Diversity and Collegial Faculty Development in Undergraduate Institutions Serving Minority Populations

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ABSTRACTOnline Weather Studies: Promoting Diversity and Collegial Faculty Development in Undergraduate Institutions Serving Minority PopulationsThe American Meteorological Society (AMS) proposes a project that will enable thousands of undergraduate minority students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to be introduced to studies in meteorology. In cooperation with the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), the Department of Geosciences at Elizabeth City State University, NC as focal point for a broad HBCU initiative, faculty members at numerous other minority-serving institutions across the country, and the highly regarded UCAR SOARS Program, the AMS proposes to increase access and opportunities for the educational and research participation of significant numbers of undergraduate students who are members of groups underrepresented in the geosciences.This project will attain this goal by making available to minority-serving colleges and universities Online Weather Studies, an existing NSF-supported AMS-developed distance-learning course on the basics of meteorology, coupled with substantial faculty professional development and student mentoring programs. Faculty development in this project features scientific and pedagogical components, along with in-depth treatment of diversity issues, appropriate to offering compelling meteorological student learning experiences. Highly motivational learning experiences are designed to encourage students to consider additional study in the geosciences leading to scientific or Earth science teaching careers.