GP-IMPACT: Establishing Partnerships to Recruit Geoscience Undergraduates from Urban Chicago

对地球材料日益增长的需求，气候变化的诸多影响，以及保护空气、水和土壤质量的需要，是人类未来面临的复杂问题。在接下来的十年里，我国将面临大约13.5万名能够解决这些问题的熟练地球科学家的短缺。积极招收地学专业的学生是弥补这一预计短缺的关键。芝加哥等城市中心提供了大量的高中生和社区大学生，他们反映了美国的社会经济和种族多样性，因此为招聘多样化的地球科学劳动力提供了丰富的来源。然而，这些学生通常并不认为地球科学是一种职业。他们往往缺乏地球科学方面的教育机会，在日常生活中，城市学生更多地与建筑环境互动，而不是自然世界。他们不认为地球科学是一条可能的职业道路，他们的家人也不熟悉这门学科。需要有说服力和创新性的方法来吸引城市学生，特别是代表不足的少数族裔，进入该学科。这个项目的目的是让芝加哥地区的高中生、社区大学和大学生接触到塑造他们世界的地球科学方面，这些方面对他们未来的经济活力和可持续性至关重要。最终目标是增加选择地球科学领域作为专业并打算继续从事地球科学作为职业的学生人数。该项目的研究成果将有助于为针对高中和社区大学学生的不同教学模式和过渡路径提供证据基础。该项目的纵向评估将调查在四年制院校吸引和留住这些地学专业学生的整体能力。更广泛的项目目标是让新的机构认识到地球科学在以STEM为导向的学生的教育和培训中的重要性和价值，并建立吸引学生和提高毕业率的示范方法，未来可以推广到更多芝加哥地区的机构和其他为城市服务的机构。伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校(UIC)是一所位于芝加哥市中心的公共研究大学，为少数族裔服务，招生主要来自城市地区。UIC正在与五所地区高中和两所当地社区大学合作，这些学校的少数民族学生占招生人数的33%至99%。芝加哥公立学校学区的三所高中合作伙伴中只有两所(萨拉·E·古德STEM学院、林肯公园高中和北格兰德高中)提供环境科学，没有一所提供地球科学课程。位于帕克里奇郊区的缅因州东部和缅因州南部高中、莫雷恩山谷社区学院和草原州立大学提供地质学入门课程，所有这些课程都可以让学生进入UIC的四年制专业。项目目标是1)在UIC开发和实施双招生课程和暑期讲习班，向学生介绍与城市相关的地球科学；2)与所有合作机构协调，建立明确的转学协议和学术建议，以减少完成UIC地球与环境科学专业4年制学位的时间和成本；3)通过辅导、招生访问、部门开放活动和地球科学信息材料，在学生和教职员工之间提供更多互动；以及4)召集更多的合作伙伴，包括家庭和当地雇主，帮助支持学生通过他们的学位。参加该项目的学生将获得更好的地球科学知识和态度，为在UIC取得学术成功做好准备，并得到同行、教师、家庭和雇主网络的支持。教师们正变得更善于为学生提供城市地球科学职业选择方面的建议，并实施帮助代表不足的群体克服成功障碍的实践。

Increasing demand for Earth materials, the many impacts of climate change, and the need to protect air, water, and soil quality are complex issues facing the future of humanity. Within the coming decade, our nation faces a shortage of approximately 135,000 skilled geoscientists who are able to address these problems. Active recruitment of students into the geosciences is essential to meet this projected shortfall. Urban centers, such as Chicago, provide large populations of high school and community college students who reflect the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the nation, and therefore provide a rich source for recruitment of a diverse geoscience workforce. However, these students do not typically consider geoscience as a career. They often lack educational opportunities in geoscience, and in their daily lives, urban students interact more with the built environment rather than the natural world. They do not view geoscience as a possible career path and their families are unfamiliar with the discipline. Compelling and innovative approaches are needed to attract urban students, and in particular underrepresented minorities, into the discipline. The aim of this project is to expose high school, community college, and college students from the Chicago region to the aspects of geoscience that shape their world and are essential to the economic viability and sustainability of their future. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of students who choose the field of geoscience as a major with the intent of continuing in geoscience as a career. Research results from this project will contribute to the evidence base for differing instructional models and transitional pathways that target high school and community college students. Longitudinal evaluation of the project will investigate the overall ability to attract and retain those students as geoscience majors at 4-year institutions. Broader project goals are to achieve new institutional awareness of the importance and value of geoscience in the education and training of STEM-oriented students and to establish model approaches for engaging students and accelerating graduation rates that can be extended to more Chicago area institutions and other urban-serving institutions in the future.The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a public research and underrepresented minority-serving university in downtown Chicago that draws its enrollment largely from the urban area. UIC is partnering with five regional high schools and two local community colleges, where underrepresented minority students constitute 33 to 99% of the enrollment. Only two of three high school partners in the Chicago Public Schools district (Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, Lincoln Park High School, and North-Grand High School) offer environmental science, and none offers geoscience classes. Maine East and Maine South high schools in suburban Park Ridge, Moraine Valley Community College, and Prairie State College offer introductory geology courses, all of which could launch students into the 4-year major at UIC. Project objectives are to 1) develop and implement dual enrollment courses and summer workshops at UIC that introduce students to urban-relevant geoscience; 2) coordinate with all partner institutions to establish clear transfer agreements and academic advising to reduce the time and cost of completing a 4-year degree in the Earth and Environmental Sciences major at UIC; 3) provide more interactions between students and faculty, through mentoring, recruitment visits, departmental open house events, and geoscience informational materials; and 4) assemble additional partners including families and local employers to help support students through their degree. Students participating in the program are expected to gain improved knowledge and attitude towards the geosciences, be prepared to succeed academically at UIC, and be supported by a network of peers, faculty, family, and employers. Faculty are becoming more adept at advising students in urban geoscience career options, and in implementing practices that help underrepresented groups overcome barriers to success.