The Diversity Project-A Transformative Field Research Experience That Engages Students by Empowering Them to Conduct Original Marine Research.

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Studies show that more diverse workforces perform better and enhance overall productivity. However, diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is much lower than U.S. demographics, representing a growing threat to the competitiveness of the U.S. science and technology sector. This project focuses on improving the success and persistence of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in science, specifically marine science. The innovation of this work is that, rather than students working on projects developed and assigned by research faculty, faculty will mentor students through the entire process of developing, designing and conducting their own research. Preliminary results indicate that not only does this student-centered model result in students being more likely to self-identify as scientists, they also produce research of publishable caliber. As a result, students stay in science and continue into graduate school and careers in STEM, helping diversify our STEM workforce and transforming the next generation of marine scientists. Underrepresented minorities (URMs) are significantly less likely to participate in STEM careers than other ethnicities, particularly within the geosciences. This pattern is partially a result of the fact that field experiences, a foundational activity that promotes retention and fosters careers in geosciences, can often be exclusionary towards women and URMs. The Diversity Project (TDP), founded in 2005, was designed to increase diversity in marine science by providing a transformative international undergraduate research experience for URMs. Until 2012, TDP employed a traditional top-down research experience for undergraduates (REU) model where students work on a subset of the PI's research. However, beginning in 2013, TDP implemented a novel bottom-up, student-centered approach that focused on maximizing student engagement, exploration, and excitement. Rather than being assigned projects, students are mentored through the process of scientific inquiry, starting with observations, formulating hypotheses, and ending with designing and conducting their own research to test those hypotheses. Preliminary research suggests that this bottom-up model results in more students publishing their research, higher participation in national and international scientific conferences, and increased interest in graduate school compared to the traditional top-down REU model. This proposal has two primary goals: 1) To compare the efficacy of bottom-up and top-down REU field programs in advancing the success of underrepresented minority students in the geosciences through comparison of long-term metrics of student success; 2) To assess the impacts (both quantitatively and qualitatively) of bottom-up and top-down summer field research programs on the success of URM students in the geosciences.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.