GP-IMPACT: Broadening pathways to geosciences with an integrated program at The University of Michigan

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Several recent studies have showcased the national importance of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines for our nation's prosperity and global competitiveness, as well as the urgency of both engaging and preparing the future STEM workforce. Within the geosciences, it is projected that there will be ~135,000 positions to fill in the next decade (AGI, 2014), greatly exceeding the number of available students earning advanced degrees in the geosciences. Resolving the severe shortage in the geosciences workforce is projected to require increased participation in the geosciences by underrepresented minorities (URM), which is currently well below that of other STEM disciplines. Low URM participation in the geosciences is a particularly acute problem at The University of Michigan (U-M), where the number of undergraduate URM students majoring in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is approximately 5% of total majors. This is an important societal issue both from the practical standpoint of the geosciences workforce as well as ethical and sociological standpoints regarding the inherent value of diversity. This project aims to increase the proportion of URM students majoring in geosciences at U-M to a level that reflects the overall demographics of the state of Michigan. This will achieve the desired societal outcomes by (1) increasing the number of URM students trained in one of the nation's premiere geosciences departments at a flagship public university, and (2) advancing and disseminating knowledge on best practices for recruiting and retaining URM students in the geosciences. The goal of this project is to substantially increase the number and success rate of URM students majoring in the geosciences at U-M. Although there are numerous activities already in place at U-M for recruiting and retaining diverse students in STEM disciplines, their focus is on engineering and biology, and only a few are applied to the geosciences. Further, these activities are currently disjointed, so there is no integrated mechanism for attracting and retaining URM students to pursue geosciences at U-M. The proposed project will build on these current, proven programs and create partnerships between organizations to support URM students at two critical junctures: between high school and 4-year institution geoscience degree programs, and between community college and 4-year institution geoscience degree programs. Five objectives will be pursued: (1) inspire and recruit high schools seniors to pursue geoscience at U-M; (2) establish infrastructure to support students interested in geosciences through the critical juncture between high school and college; (3) increase the number of URM students transferring from community colleges to U-M to study geosciences; (4) develop student interest in geosciences through research and field experiences; and (5) expose students to career opportunities in the geosciences. These objectives will be achieved through the development and implementation of new hands-on experiences in the classroom, lab, and field; a summer program to bridge high school and college for students interested in geosciences; social media and peer-mentoring activities designed to establish supportive student cohorts; application to the geosciences of established practices for recruiting students and facilitating transfer from community college; and development of media and interactions with professional geoscientists designed to highlight career opportunities. This project will link the proposed activities together with existing and developing programs at U-M, all of which employ evidence-based methods. A novel aspect is that it will create a seamless and continuous pipeline for URM geosciences students from high school through the undergraduate years. Outcomes of this project will provide new perspectives on the importance of such an integrated approach to increasing diversity in the STEM fields. Quantitative comparisons of performance of students within the newly developed program to those not involved in the program, and those involved in other programs and in other STEM fields, will be conducted via an innovative University-wide data mining process. We will also assess student attitudes towards the various phases of the project with online surveys and face-to-face interviews. This generated evidence will be used to evaluate prospects for transfer of such integrated strategies to other disciplines, departments, and institutions.