Collaborative Research GP-EXTRA: Engaging Diverse Two-Year College Geoscience Students: Expanding Opportunities Through Undergraduate Research and Mentoring

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Promoting student involvement in the geosciences is of utmost priority for geoscience educators at all levels, as the broader community is experiencing mass retirement and a shortage of qualified individuals to replace them in the workforce. The geoscience community is also struggling to diversify its workforce. Much research demonstrates that undergraduate geology students who are exposed to geoscience research early in their education are much more likely to pursue geoscience careers than their peers who did not have this exposure. Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech) is addressing these issues by providing its diverse population of introductory geology students with paid summer geoscience research opportunities at partner institutions: North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS). Students who participate in the summer internships also are being integrated in an ongoing program of mentoring and professional socialization through multiple opportunities to present their research projects to various audiences, including at professional meetings, to other undergraduates, to high school students, and to the public. The project is creating broader impacts beyond the immediate research experiences for students in the program, because of the potential of outreach by a more diverse group of students for attracting additional students from underrepresented groups as they consider their own choice of major.Wake Tech, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, has a large and flourishing introductory geology program consisting of diverse freshman and sophomore students who are looking to transfer to four-year institutions. This project is working to: 1) increase the number of students, including those from groups underrepresented in geosciences, transferring from community college to geoscience programs at four-year colleges and universities; 2) provide three cohorts of 12 Wake Tech students with engaging, cutting-edge geoscience summer research internship experiences at partner institutions (NCSU and NCMNS); 3) demonstrate the effectiveness of early research experiences for community college students; and 4) engage more than 1300 Wake Tech geoscience students each year in a greater number of inquiry investigations based on current NCSU/NCMNS geoscience research. Students completing the summer research internship are also involved with promoting a better understanding of geoscience careers and issues among the broader population of Wake County through participation in the Wake Tech Student Chapter of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG) and outreach to local high schools, Wake Tech students, and NCMNS visitors. The strong partnership between Wake Tech, NCSU, and the NCMNS ensures the highest quality of research experiences and mentoring with careful attention to mentoring students from their initial interest through acceptance in a four-year college geoscience program.