Building Work Experience for Geospatial Analysts and Technicians

尽管科罗拉多州有大量地理空间科学技术人员的工作，但最近的毕业生面临着许可悖论：没有经验就找不到工作，但没有工作就无法获得经验。许多雇主要求应聘者至少有一年的实际工作经验，这对刚毕业的两年制大学毕业生来说往往是一个很大的障碍。这种障碍对低收入家庭的学生来说尤其如此，因为他们在完成课程的同时往往在一个不相关的领域工作。该项目将为地理空间科学专业的学生提供一个在完成学位和/或证书后与外部合作伙伴一起从事现实世界地理空间项目的机会。每年，20名学生将与行业雇主进行带薪实习，这将使学生能够应用通过课程获得的技术技能，获得工作经验，并建立项目管理，批判性思维和专业技能。因此，这些工作经验将支持学生课程的学习成果，并提高毕业生的就业能力。学生们还将为邻近学区的初高中学生举办积极的学习研讨会，这些学区为大量未被充分代表的学生群体提供服务。这些讲习班旨在提高中学生对地理空间科学的认识，并鼓励他们探索和从事地理空间科学的技术职业。该项目将提供一种新颖的实习方式，提供：1)与北科罗拉多州劳动力合作伙伴合作的传统的、面对面的工作项目；2)与国家地质技术中心合作的虚拟项目。该项目将成为全国首批面向地理空间社区大学生的虚拟实习项目之一。地理空间科学专业的学生将在教师导师的监督下，通过使用无人驾驶飞行器举办主动学习研讨会，建立初中和高中地理空间教育管道。讲习班将向学生（包括年轻女性和代表性不足的学生）介绍地理空间教育和职业道路，目标是增加地球科学工作人员的多样性。这些工作坊将同时培养初高中学生对地理空间教育和职业的知识，同时为社区大学学生提供近同行的教学经验。作为项目传播的一部分，该项目将制定建立虚拟地理空间实习项目的最佳实践指南。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Despite a wealth of geospatial science technician jobs in Colorado, recent graduates face the permission paradox: they cannot get a job without experience, but they cannot get experience without a job. Many employers require at least a year of practical work experience, which is often a significant barrier for recent two-year college graduates. This barrier is especially true for low-income students, because they often work in an unrelated field while completing their coursework. This project will offer students in the Geospatial Science program an opportunity to work with external partners on real-world geospatial projects as they complete degrees and/or certificates. Each year, twenty students will have a paid internship with an industry employer, which will allow students to apply the technical skills acquired through coursework, gain work experience, and build project management, critical thinking, and professional skills. Thus, these work experiences will support learning outcomes in students' courses and increase the employability of graduates. Students will also host active learning workshops for middle and high school students from neighboring school districts that serve a large underrepresented student population. These workshops aim to raise awareness and engage secondary school students in exploring and pursuing technical careers in the geospatial sciences.This project will offer a novel internship approach by providing: 1) traditional, in-person work projects in collaboration with northern Colorado workforce partners; and 2) virtual projects in collaboration with the national ATE GeoTech Center. This project will pilot one of the first virtual internship programs for geospatial community college students in the nation. Geospatial Science students, with oversight from faculty mentors, will build a middle and high school geospatial educational pipeline by hosting active learning workshops using unmanned aerial vehicles. The workshops will introduce students, including young women and underrepresented students, to geospatial education and career paths, with the goal of increasing diversity in the geoscience workforce. The workshops will simultaneously develop middle and high school students' knowledge of geospatial education and careers while providing a near-peer teaching experience for community college students. As part of project dissemination, the project will develop a best practices guide for building virtual geospatial internship program. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.