Building an Inclusive Geology Field Camp for the PASSHE: Workshop Proposal: Pittsburg, PA - January 3-4, 2019

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The creation of a 6-week place-based field course will be transformative to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) geoscience programs and impact the surrounding region by enhancing the abilities and quality of graduating geoscience students entering the workforce. The universities involved in this proposal are all predominantly undergraduate institutions serving rural suburban and urban student demographics, many of whom are first-generation college students. The proposed field course will also enhance the research environment by promoting collaborations between faculty at different state universities and promote future curricular collaborations between universities. The field "short course" will introduce high school students interested in STEM to geoscience before most declare a major and begin their university education. The course is a critical step in creating academic pathways for student recruits into the geosciences with strong institutional connections - starting at the high school level. Student participants will be prepared for the next step in their academic careers by using the natural backyard labs in PA. The effort will also increase the recruitment of under-involved students in STEM as they would not have to travel away from home to gain a quality experience that will also prepare them for undergraduate or graduate programs in the geosciences and, in turn, the geoscience workforce.The purpose of this proposal is to effectively plan for the production of a sustainable, cost-effective 6-week geology field course, which will allow each Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) geoscience graduate to meet the minimum requirements for applications to graduate school and to take the Pennsylvania Professional Geologist licensing exam. Additionally, this field course will accomplish three distinct and important objectives; (1) address a looming geoscience workforce shortage, (2) better prepare our students for the geoscience workforce by offering a place-based field curriculum highlighting the importance of geoscience to all Pennsylvania communities and focusing on modern day geoscience problems (see section 4 for examples), and (3) broadening recruitment so that the demographics of our future problem solvers more closely mimics the demographics of our region.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.