Oceans of Opportunity: Enhancing African-American Participation in the Marine Geosciences (Track 1)

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Track 1: Oceans of Opportunity: Enhancing African-American Participationin the Marine GeosciencesThe supply of African American and other minority students to research laboratories and to graduate and undergraduate programs in the geosciences is far less than the demand currently set by diversity initiatives in the sciences. Potential causes include lack of exposure to the geosciences at a young age, lack of continuous reinforcement in the geosciences, lack of participation in meaningful research, and lack of mentorship. The Oceans of Opportunity program will address all four of these potential causal factors in two focus cities (Savannah and Atlanta, GA) with high densities of African Americans in the public school systems and in the universities represented by the PIs (Savannah State University [SSU] and Georgia State University [GSU]). This collaboration between a primarily undergraduate HBCU (SSU) and a research university with significant minority enrollment (GSU) with outreach branches to the school systems is anchored by support from the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI). Oceans of Opportunity focuses on sustained involvement of students in the marine geosciences from kindergarten through high school. Anticipated results are that these students will later appear in university geoscience courses and research laboratories. The Oceans of Opportunity program consists of two pipelines extending geoscience research and academic endeavors from the universities and JOI to the public school systems. In the Track 1 research pipeline, research training groups (RTG) have been established at SSU to carry out research on the record of carbon storage and availability of natural resources in the nearby South Atlantic Bight (SAB), and on the history of Gulf Stream flow through study of sediment cores from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 and 171 (Blake Ridge and Blake Nose). In support of RTG development and focused SAB/Gulf Stream research, funding for one graduate student and one undergraduate per year is provided. High school students in a pilot marine science course hosted by the Savannah-Chatham School District's Oatland Island Education Center round out the RTG. In the Track 2 academic pipeline, Oceans of Opportunity is developing and implementing three of six planned interactive geoscience modules based on actual sediment samples from deep ocean drilling, replicas of ODP cores, and innovative lesson plans that expand use of these materials for students of all academic levels.