GP EXTRA: Exploration of Recruitment of Earth Scientists (EXPLORES)

长期以来，人们普遍认识到，成功攻读STEM学位和职业的学生短缺。即将到来的短缺对于地球科学职业来说尤其严重，预计到2024年将出现90，000名专业人员的赤字。这有多种原因，但其中最重要的是专业地球科学家通过退休而老化，以及大学新生对地球科学职业机会和经济机会的认识不足，因为中学通常不教授严格的地质学课程。然而，在大学里发现地球科学专业的学生对他们的学位和自然资源管理和减轻人类对环境影响的职业前景非常满意。项目探索（地球科学家招聘的探索）正在寻求解决许多这些问题，通过招聘的组合，课程的变化，在北方亚利桑那大学（NAU），近同行和研究指导，职业咨询，并在地质学计划欢迎社会和教育环境中采取的几乎所有STEM专业的课程。该项目的目标是每年进入NAU地质学专业的新生人数平均增长至少10%。项目EXPLORES采取多种行动，以提高学生对地质学专业的理解和地球科学的就业机会。我们项目的基础是来自化学和生物化学系和地球与可持续发展学院的教师之间的合作，在每年2000名STEM专业的化学基础课程中开发几个新的以地球科学为重点的实验室，其中包括30-40%来自代表性不足的群体的学生。这些实验室将使早期职业STEM专业的学生了解地球科学家如何使用化学来量化和理解地球系统的变化。项目结束后，新的实验室将作为化学课程的一个永久组成部分。对于那些对地球科学专业感兴趣的学生，该项目将为他们提供毕业后接触专业和职业的经验。这些经验包括：地质学本科生同伴导师结对（地球科学大使）与未来的学生提供有关地质学专业和他们在课堂上的经验，并与教师的信息;领导为期一天的实地考察当地，壮观的地质环境，使未来的专业可以了解如何地球科学家将体验式学习纳入课堂;邀请职业地球科学专业人士谈论他们的职业道路和机会，以及提供有关在专业内追求哪些课程的建议;提供未来的专业和他们的研究导师津贴，在我们的前沿研究小组之一进行真实的研究，包括气候科学，地球化学，地球物理学，构造学和地球科学。由研究生和教师组成的研究导师将接受为期多天的有效指导实践培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It has long been widely recognized that there is a shortage of students successfully pursuing STEM degrees and careers. The impending shortage is particularly acute for careers in the geosciences, where it is anticipated there will be a deficit of 90,000 professionals by the year 2024. There are multiple reasons for this, but paramount among them is the aging out of professional geoscientists through retirements, and low awareness of geoscience career opportunities and financial opportunities among college freshman because rigorous geology courses are not commonly taught in secondary schools. Yet, students who discover a geoscience major at the university have very high satisfaction with their degree and the prospects of careers in the management of natural resources and mitigation of human impacts on the environment. Project EXPLORES (EXPLOration of Recruitment of Earth Scientists) is looking to address many of these issues through a combination of recruitment, curricular changes in a course taken by nearly all STEM majors at Northern Arizona University (NAU), near-peer and research mentoring, career advising, and a welcoming social and educational environment in the Geology Program. The project aims for at least an average 10% growth per year in the number of new students entering the geology major at NAU.Project EXPLORES takes multiple actions to improve student understanding of the geology major and career opportunities in the geosciences. The basis of our project is a collaboration among faculty from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Earth and Sustainability to develop several new geoscience-focused labs in a chemistry foundational course taken by 2000 STEM majors each year, including 30-40% of students from underrepresented groups. The labs will expose early-career STEM majors to how geoscientists use chemistry to quantify and understand changes in the Earth system. After the project ends the new labs will be institutionalized as a permanent part of the Chemistry curriculum.To those students who show interest in the geoscience major the project will offer experiences that build their exposure to the major and careers after graduation. The experiences include:pairing geology undergraduate peer mentors (Geoscience Ambassadors) with prospective students to provide information about the geology major and their experiences in classes and with faculty; leading day-long field trips to local, spectacular geologic settings so prospective majors can learn how geoscientists incorporate experiential learning into classes; inviting career geoscience professionals to talk about their career paths and opportunities, as well as provide advice about which courses of study to pursue within the major; providing prospective majors and their research mentors stipends to conduct authentic research in one of our cutting-edge research groups that include climate science, geochemistry, geophysics, tectonics, and biogeoscience. Research mentors comprising graduate students and faculty will receive multi-day training on effective mentoring practices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.