IRES Track I: Immersive Undergraduate Research in the Galapagos as a Tool for Building URM STEM Careers

第1部分：非技术项目描述。真正的社会和经济障碍阻碍了有才华的本科生--特别是那些来自代表性不足的少数民族的本科生--参与大学研究，并最终阻碍了他们在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的职业发展。克服这些多方面的障碍是一个公平问题，对科学进步、美国STEM劳动力发展和国家安全至关重要。研究人员在休斯顿和厄瓜多尔的加拉帕戈斯群岛进行了为期19周的本科研究。该计划旨在帮助代表性不足的少数群体克服限制他们参与STEM和取得成功的社会障碍。然而，项目学费、旅行、研究站费用和工作时间损失的综合成本意味着参与对许多学生来说成本过高。该奖项将为有才华但经济困难的学生参与该计划提供经济支持。其主要目的是使有才华但经济困难的学生能够更多地参与这一独特的研究体验，并使这些学生在STEM领域取得终身成功。此外，学生产生的数据被用来了解加拉帕戈斯群岛的自然功能，并可以指导政策建议，确保负责任的发展和保护不仅是这些岛屿，但任何生态敏感的近海岸地区，经历越来越多的生态旅游压力或新兴城市环境的边缘。最后，该计划的评估将产生数据驱动的见解到该计划的方面，导致学生的成功;这些调查结果的出版将使采用和modificationof所提出的方法不仅由少数服务机构，但由任何希望增加成功的人口在STEM的种族andeconomic多样性。现有的计划是围绕帮助本科生，特别是那些来自代表性不足的少数民族（URM）人口，克服STEM成功的背景障碍。该计划的学生在休斯顿大学（UH）的强化预科课程中度过一个学期，该课程以加拉帕戈斯群岛为模型，探索地质学，进化生物学，历史和保护方面的几个主题。通过课程，学生还从事许多队列建设（例如，露营、动物园幕后图尔斯之旅）和专业培训活动（例如，如何批判性地阅读科学文献，如何展示发现，RCR，使用野外生物学装备）。然后，他们在加拉帕戈斯与位于圣克里斯托瓦尔岛的加拉帕戈斯科学中心的教师进行为期四周的合作研究。本科团队有助于教师领导的项目，重点是在不同强度和发展压力形式下的加拉帕戈斯群岛的基础生物学和生态健康。而在岛上，学生通过寄宿当地家庭沉浸在当地文化中，建立自己的专业网络和STEM身份，发展STEM自我效能感等回到呃后，学生从事几个结构化的学术和发展活动，如使用个人叙述来交流他们的经验和研究，指导在专业会议上提出的研究结果，这些活动旨在促进过渡到继续本科研究，研究生学习或STEM职业，计划参与的全部费用相当可观，IRES奖旨在为那些在学业上有才华，但经济上有困难的学生提供经济支持。需要;基金将支付参与该计划的全部费用，包括学费、旅费、住宿费、加拉帕戈斯公园和研究站费用，以及学生因外出工作而损失的收入。学生产生的数据增加了我们对加拉帕戈斯的了解，并对全球生态敏感的沿海地区具有明显的应用价值。重要的是，该计划的评估将产生新的见解，如何多样化和持续的沉浸式培训，本科生研究和强大的财政支持可以推动URM在STEM方面的成功。这些见解的出版将使我们的方法能够广泛使用，以增加在STEM中成功的人口的种族和经济多样性。这种集中努力，以增加URM在STEM中的成功是一个公平的问题，这对国家利益至关重要，因为持续的人口结构变化影响了我们的学生和工人人口的组成。基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Part 1: Nontechnical Project Description. Genuine social and financial barriers prevent talented undergraduates – particularly those from underrepresented minorities – from participating in university research, and ultimately from building careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM). Overcoming these multifaceted barriers is a matter of equity, and is critical for scientific progress,United States STEM workforce development, and national security. The researchers have developed a 19-week undergraduate research experience in Houston and the Galápagos islands, Ecuador. The Program is designed purposefully to help underrepresented minorities overcome the social barriers that limit their participation and success in STEM. However, the combined cost of Programtuition, travel, research station fees, and lost time from work means that participation is cost-prohibitive formany students. This award will support financially the participation of talented but financiallydisadvantaged students in the Program.The primary aims are to enable an increase in the participation of talented, financiallyunderprivileged students in this unique research experience and to bring these students to lifelongsuccess in STEM. In addition, the data generated by students are used to understand the naturalfunctioning of the Galápagos, and can guide policy recommendations that ensure responsibledevelopment and conservation not just of these islands, but of any ecologically sensitive near-coastalareas that experience growing ecotourism pressures or that are on the margins of emerging urbanenvironments. Finally, the Program evaluation will generate data-driven insights into the aspects of the Program that leads to student success; publication of these findings will enable adoption and modificationof the proposed approach not just by minority serving institutions, but by any that desire to increase the racial andeconomic diversity of populations successful in STEM.Part 2: Technical Project Description. The existing Program is built around helpingundergraduates, particularly those from underrepresented minority (URMs) populations, overcomecontextual barriers to STEM success. Students in the Program spend one semester in an intensivepreparatory course at the University of Houston (UH) that uses the Galápagos as a model to exploreseveral topics in geology, evolutionary biology, history, and conservation. Through the course, studentsalso engage in numerous cohort building (e.g., camping, behind-the-scenes zoo tours) and professionaltraining activities (e.g., how to read the scientific literature critically, how to present findings, RCR, use offield biology gear). They then conduct collaborative research for four weeks in the Galápagos with facultybased at the Galápagos Science Center on San Cristóbal island. Undergraduate teams contribute tofaculty-led projects focused on basic biology and ecological health of the Galápagos under differentintensities and forms of stress from development. While in the islands, students are immersed in localculture through home-stays with local families, build their professional networks and STEM identities,develop STEM self-efficacy, etc. Upon return to UH, students engage in several structured academic anddevelopmental activities such as training in the use of personal narrative to communicate theirexperiences and research, guidance in presenting findings at professional meetings, developingapplications to graduate school, etc. These activities are aimed at facilitate transition to continuingundergraduate research, post-graduate study, or careers in STEM,The full cost of Program participation is considerable, and excludes students with financial need.The IRES Award aims to provide financial support to academically talented Program aspirants with unmetfinancial need; funds will cover the full cost of Program participation, including tuition, travel, housing,Galápagos park and research station fees, and income lost from student time away from outside work.Data generated by the students increases our understanding the Galápagos, and has clearapplied value for ecologically sensitive near-coastal areas globally. Importantly, the Program evaluationwill generate new insights into how diverse and ongoing immersive training, undergraduate research, andstrong financial support can drive URM success in STEM. Publication of these insights will enable broaduse of our approach to increase the racial and economic diversity of populations successful in STEM.Such focused efforts to increase URM success in STEM is a matter of equity that is critical to the nationalinterest as ongoing demographic shifts affect the composition of our student and worker populationsThis 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.