GP_EXTRA: Academic Year Pathways Research Experience Program (AY-PREP)

GP_EXTRA：学年衔接研究体验计划（AY-PREP）

• 批准号: 1540752
• 负责人: Aaron Velasco
• 金额: $ 49.81万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at El Paso
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-15 至 2020-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1540752&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GP_EXTRA; Academic; Year; Pathways; Research

The United States needs to increase the number of awarded STEM undergraduate degrees by about 34% annually over current rates to meet the high demand for scientists and engineers in the workforce. Furthermore, the geosciences, which address complicated and dynamic Earth systems, are one of the least diverse STEM fields. Thus, recruiting, retaining, and preparing the next generation of diverse geoscientists remains a top priority if the U.S. is to remain a leader in the geosciences. This program, Academic Year Pathways Research Experience Program (AY-PREP), exposes students to a wide-range of career opportunities, emerging geoscience topics and environmental issues through hands-on activities and research experiences, and prepares them as future geoscientists through stratified mentoring and training of professional and soft skills.The El Paso region, surrounded by the Franklin Mountains and within the Chihuahuan Desert, provides an ideal natural setting for exploring geoscience and environmental issues. Located at the southern end of the Rio Grande Rift and along the Rio Grande River, geology in El Paso features visible and easily accessible fault scarps, basin and range topography, and volcanoes. Furthermore, the El Paso area shares many environmental challenges with our border city, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, including limited fresh water resources, elevated soil salinity in agriculture, and dust and air pollution issues. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is building upon past, successful efforts to broaden participation in STEM, as well as leverage UTEP's unique demographic (80% Hispanic) and research infrastructure, to develop a comprehensive program that recruits, retains, and prepares the next generation of diverse geoscientists to earn advance degrees and/or enter the workforce: Academic Year Pathways Research Experience Program (AY-PREP). The program includes: 1) an academic year interdisciplinary research experience for a cohort of six undergraduates per year, 2) weekly seminars and workshops to expose students to cutting-edge research, graduate programs, and career opportunities, and prepare students for technical, professional, and soft skills; 3) a stratified mentoring program; 4) opportunities for the cohort to participate in the deployment of a seismic field experiment; and 5) a two-week summer bridge camp that brings together incoming AY-PREP students, undergraduate students, senior high school students, and pre-service teachers. The summer camp includes field trips to the Jemez Critical Zone Observatory in New Mexico, integration of IRIS Education and Outreach programming, training on geophysical/geochemical instrumentation and sensor technology, and the synthesis of large datasets that serve as a foundation for undergraduate student research projects.

美国需要在目前的基础上每年增加约34%的STEM本科学位授予数量，以满足劳动力对科学家和工程师的高需求。此外，研究复杂而动态的地球系统的地球科学是多样性最小的STEM领域之一。因此，如果美国要保持在地球科学领域的领先地位，招募、留住和培养下一代多样化的地球科学家仍然是当务之急。该计划名为学年路径研究体验计划(AY-PREP)，通过实践活动和研究经验让学生接触到广泛的职业机会、新兴的地球科学主题和环境问题，并通过分层指导和专业和软技能培训为未来的地球科学家做好准备。埃尔帕索地区被富兰克林山脉包围，位于奇瓦瓦沙漠内，为探索地球科学和环境问题提供了理想的自然环境。埃尔帕索地质学位于里奥格兰德裂谷南端和里奥格兰德河沿岸，具有可见和容易到达的断层陡峭、盆地和山脉地形以及火山。此外，埃尔帕索地区与我们的边境城市墨西哥华雷斯有许多共同的环境挑战，包括淡水资源有限，农业土壤盐分升高，以及灰尘和空气污染问题。得克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校(UTEP)正在以过去成功的努力为基础，扩大对STEM的参与，并利用UTEP独特的人口结构(80%是西班牙裔)和研究基础设施，制定一项全面的计划，招募、保留和培养下一代不同的地球科学家，以获得高级学位和/或进入劳动力大军：学年路径研究体验计划(AY-Prep)。该计划包括：1)每年为6名本科生提供的学年跨学科研究经验；2)每周的研讨会和工作坊，让学生接触尖端研究、研究生课程和职业机会，并为学生的技术、专业和软技能做好准备；3)分层指导计划；4)为队列提供参与地震现场实验部署的机会；以及5)为期两周的夏令营，将即将入学的AY预科学生、本科生、高中生和职前教师聚集在一起。夏令营包括对新墨西哥州杰梅兹临界区天文台的实地考察，IRIS教育和外联方案的整合，关于地球物理/地球化学仪器和传感器技术的培训，以及作为本科生研究项目基础的大型数据集的综合。