OEDG Planning Grant: Expanding Geoscience Diversity: Alternative Field Environments for Non-Traditional Students

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This OEDG planning project is exploring new strategies for engaging persons with physical limitations in geologic field work through surrogate, immersive, virtual representations, with the goal of bringing more diverse students into the geosciences. During the initial phase, a partnership between the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) and the Advanced Computing Center for Arts andDesign (ACCAD), at Ohio State University (OSU), will design, develop, and present geoscience content material for a pilot workhop focused on cave geology, while investigating the efficacy, perception and transfer for students with limited content knowledge as a result of their lack of direct access to the field environment. The project brings together researchers in the fields of information technologies, Earth science, education, art and design, and disabilities research. Mobility-impaired undergraduate and graduate students are engaged as active participants during development of the educational resources, to ensure their utility with this audience. Additional partners in the project include Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance (OSAA), the Offices of Disability Services at OSU, Wright State University (WSU), Mammoth Caves National Park, the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.