COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Getting it right. A strategic planning workshop to develop a sustainable pathway for educating underrepresented Puerto Rican students in geosciences

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The progress of science in the United States is dependent on the development of a future STEM workforce that is well-trained, highly effective, and enriched through participation of the diverse talent of the nation. This award is being used to support a week-long strategic planning workshop that will bring together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the Universidad del Turabo, Universidad Metropolitana, and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, with additional participants attending from government and private sector organizations within Puerto Rico. The goal of the collaborative effort is to develop sustainable education and research pathways into the marine and coastal sciences for Hispanic students.The objective of this workshop is to develop novel educational models, or adapt existing ones, that are necessary for building a comprehensive coupled geoscience education and research program at minority serving institutions in Puerto Rico. The overarching goal is to create a pathway to STEM success that will lead to an increase in the number of underrepresented students from minority serving institutions participating in geoscience-relevant disciplines and careers, as well as increase geoscience literacy. The workshop is bringing together new and existing Puerto Rico partners in government, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to discuss and develop an educational framework for creating a new linked academic year and summer research curriculum. The workshop agenda consists of a two-day symposium and strategic planning meeting followed by 5 days of fieldwork and seminars. Participants will include UT,UMET and UMCES faculty, 12 undergraduates and 5 graduate students. The field/seminar components are designed to help identify areas of mutual strength among the collaborators, to inform strategies for developing an effective and sustainable multiyear undergraduate science education and research curriculum at institutions in Puerto Rico, as well as test the efficacy of potential research programs with new and existing partners. Extensive evaluation and assessment of the workshop processes and outcomes will help to document opportunities and barriers for achieving the goals of the workshop.