Geoscience Programs at Community Colleges: Models for Success and Innovation

该奖项用于资助来自社区大学的12个教师-本科生团队的差旅费和会议相关费用，他们将在2009年美国地质学会（GSA）在俄勒冈州波特兰举行的全国会议上，在题为“社区大学的地球科学项目：成功与创新的模式”的技术会议上发表论文。此外，这些与会者将参加一个特别的焦点小组，讨论在两年制大学或社区大学环境中工作的地球科学教职员工和学生面临的一些问题和需求。技术会议和焦点小组的讨论将有助于提高NSF/GEO对如何更好地为在社区大学环境中工作的地球科学家提供服务的理解，在那里他们通常是孤立的，缺乏研究基础设施。会议将为参与的教师提供宝贵的专业发展机会，并帮助他们与四年制大学、大型研究机构和私营部门的雇主建立新的伙伴关系。参与的本科生将主要来自STEM领域代表性不足的少数族裔，他们将接触到地球科学领域的教育、指导、交流机会和广泛的职业道路。

This award is supporting the travel and conference related expenses for 12 faculty-undergraduate student teams from community colleges, who will present papers in a technical session titled, "Geoscience Programs at Community Colleges: Models for Success and Innovation" (session T104), during the 2009 Geological Society of America (GSA) national conference in Portland, Oregon. In addition, these attendees will be participating in a special focus group to discuss some of the issues and needs faced by geoscience faculty and students working within a 2-year college or community college setting. Discussions in the technical session and focus group will help advance NSF/GEO's understanding of how to better serve geoscientists working in the community college environment, where they are commonly isolated and lacking research infrastructure. The conference will provide valuable professional development for the participating faculty and help them forge new partnerships with 4-year colleges, larger research institutions, and employers within the private sector. It will expose the participating undergraduate students, who will be largely recruited from underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, to a sampling of education, mentoring, networking opportunities and the broad array of career pathways in the geosciences.