Mentoring, Education, Training, Research and Outreach (METRO): A co-ordinated approach to increase diversity in the Geosciences (OEDG Type II)

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。地球科学指导、教育、培训、研究和推广（METRO）中心是一个四年制机构（加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校）和两所社区学院（弗雷斯诺城市学院和里德利学院）之间的合作项目。该中心的首要目标是在加州中部服务严重不足的地区，为少数民族学生从K-12学校系统到高级学位和地球科学的职业创造一个无缝的管道。学生们从弗雷斯诺州立大学、当地社区学院和高中被招募到METRO项目中，在那里他们参与地球科学研究，接受教师和同伴的指导，参加研讨会，为他们的职业生涯和/或研究生学习做准备，并参加为期三年的州和联邦机构的暑期研究/实习。在这些活动的同时，学生们还参与了一些外展活动，向K-12学生介绍地球科学领域的机会，并为K-12教师提供专业发展机会。在项目期间，将有100多名教师和2500多名学生通过外联和专业发展工作获得帮助。每年将有24名本科生参与研究项目，其中大多数学生将参加学术会议并发表演讲。这些学生中很大一部分将是西班牙裔，这是一个在地球科学领域代表性严重不足的群体。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Geoscience Mentoring, Education, Training, Research and Outreach (METRO) Center is a collaboration between a four year institution (California State University Fresno), and two community colleges (Fresno City College and Reedley College). The overarching aim of this center is to create a seamless pipeline of minority students from the K-12 school system through to advanced degrees and careers in the geosciences within the critically underserved region of Central California. Students are being recruited from Fresno State, local community colleges and high schools into the METRO program, where they participate in geoscience research, receive faculty- and peer-mentoring, attend workshops to prepare them for careers and/or graduate studies, and participate in summer research/internships at state and federal facilities over a three-year period. In parallel with these activities, the students are involved in outreach activities that educate K-12 students about opportunities within the geosciences and provide professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers. During the project, over 100 teachers and 2,500 school students will be reached through the outreach and professional development efforts. Twenty-four undergraduate students will participate in research projects each year, and the majority of these students will attend and present at academic conferences. A large proportion of these students will be Hispanic, a critically under-represented group in the geosciences.