GP-GO: 'Ahihi Learning Ecosystem Model for Hawai‘i Geoscience Workforce Development

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This project aims to fundamentally transform the ways geoscience majors are attracted and prepared at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) through institutional collaborations with a focus on workforce-relevant professional development and community-building. This proposal will employ a STEM learning ecosystem model in which faculty, staff, students, and alumni work together with geoscience employers to prepare Hawai‘i's diverse students for geoscience careers locally and nationally. The result will be an increase in the number of women, Native Hawaiians and other URMs that engage in career-relevant geoscience experiences, which will lead to their increased participation in the local and national geoscience workforce. This project will also lead to enhanced economic development, sustainability and geopolitical security, as many geoscience jobs have relevance to clean energy, fresh water, climate change and sea level rise. In this way, this project will contribute to the NSF mission of promoting the progress of science, advancing the nation’s prosperity and welfare and securing the national defense. The project's overarching goal is to attract and prepare diverse undergraduates and graduate students to meet Hawai‘i’s geoscience workforce needs. The PIs have targeted four project objectives: (A) Develop a data-driven understanding of current and projected geoscience workforce needs in Hawai‘i, and use these data to drive programming; (B) Improve career-related pathways into the geosciences by equipping undergraduate and graduate students with skills relevant to workforce needs through professional development, networking and mentoring; (C) Build sustainable, institutional collaborations across the UH system by bridging and leveraging relevant programs and projects at three Native Hawaiian-serving community colleges and UH Manoa; and (D) Increase and broaden participation within Associate of Science in Natural Science and UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology majors, particularly among women and Native Hawaiians. These objectives will be obtained through an integrated set of interventions designed for academic and workforce success. A key cross-cutting strategy is leveraging the long-term partnerships with well-established programs across all three campuses to build cross-campus collaborations and ensure sustainability beyond the project period.This project is jointly funded by GEO's IUSE:GEOPAths Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.