Proyecto Dinosaurios: A Track 2 Project for Enhancing Geoscience Education and Awareness Among Hispanic Community College Students Through Paleontological Research

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The Dinosaur Institute of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) aims to establish a multi-year comprehensive program of paleontological research and training for American Hispanic undergraduates of community colleges in Los Angeles. The project builds on the core strengths of the NHMLAC's dynamic programs in paleontology and evolutionary biology, extensive reference collections, and broad experience in the education of scientific discovery, and uses the appeal of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic vertebrates to increase the interest and enhance the education of students of Hispanic background in vertebrate paleontology. Students are being recruited from the culturally and ethnically diverse metropolitan area of Los Angeles for a year of research, data collection, analysis, and public presentation of results. Research activities and workshops will be designed to explore a diversity of topics germane to the study of vertebrate fossils and careers within the geosciences. A series of comprehensive workshops and the opportunity to participate in weekly seminars will supplement the research activities of the participants. A two-week field trip to dinosaur localities of the American West will provide students with hands-on experience about how fossils are discovered and collected, and expose them to the fundamentals of field research (e.g., stratigraphy, GPS navigation, data collection). This project will expose 6 participating students to a wide range of academic activities as well as career and schooling options within the geosciences, encourage them to transfer to a 4-year college and to continue onto graduate studies, and increase their understanding about the nature of science, particularly as applied to paleontology and evolution. This award provides a 1-year extension of activities initiated through a previous Track 1 OEDG project (GEO-0703506).