GP-IN: Graduate soft skills development through mentoring pre-university students through diverse geoscience experiences

地球科学特别适合培养和多样化STEM工作人员，并促进STEM扫盲，因为它对与人类唯一家园--地球有关的现实世界问题有着不同的应用。这一跨学科领域为地学学生在地学内外成功的STEM职业生涯做好准备。然而，地球科学面临着人才缺口，并面临着少数群体代表性严重不足的问题。招收越来越多的不同类型的学生进入本科生地学专业学习是未来繁荣的必然。在进入大学之前，让高中生了解一门特定科学的重要性，可能会对STEM职业选择产生长期好处。招募和培训不同的学生进入该领域将有助于确保可持续和包容性的未来地球科学工作者将代表美国的多元文化社会。PIS提出了一种双管齐下的方法，针对地学人才管道中不同关键时刻的学生：1)决定大学和专业的高中生，2)在地学领域从事学术和非学术职业的研究生。该计划的两个主要目标是1)增加有意选择地球科学作为专业的高中生的数量和多样性，2)巩固研究生作为地球科学领导者和终身导师的态度、技能和身份。高中生优先从三所合作高中招收，这三所高中的学生人数较多，传统上属于少数族裔群体。每个高中暑期实习生在研究生的监督和指导下完成一个单独的项目，同时有组织地和基于群体的接触和小型培训，在计算和数据科学，现场工作和仪器，以及通信。研究生导师通过一系列研讨会和个人反馈会议，在辅导实践方面接受正式培训和建议。他们还帮助设计并向实习生提供真实的地球科学接触和小型培训。实习生的项目由研究生撰写的项目建议书指导，并由PI的指导进行修订。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Geosciences are particularly suited for nurturing and diversifying a STEM workforce and promoting STEM literacy on account of the diverse applications to real-world problems related to humanity’s only home: the Earth. This interdisciplinary field prepares geoscience students for successful STEM careers within and beyond geoscience. Yet, the geosciences are faced with a talent gap and suffer from a serious underrepresentation of minoritized groups. Recruiting more and more diverse students into undergraduate geoscience programs of study is a necessity for future prosperity. By exposing rising high school seniors to the importance of a particular science before they enter college could have long-term benefits in favor of STEM career choices. Recruiting and training diverse students into the field will help to ensure that sustainable and inclusive future geoscience workers will be representative of America’s multicultural society.PIs propose a two-pronged approach that targets students at distinct critical junctures in the geoscience talent pipeline: 1) high-school students deciding on colleges and majors, and 2) graduate students working towards academic and non-academic careers in geoscience. The two main goals of this program are 1) to increase the number and diversity of college-bound high-school students who intentionally choose geoscience as a major, and 2) to solidify graduate students’ attitudes, skills, and identities as geoscience leaders and lifelong mentors. High-school students are preferentially recruited from three partner high schools with large populations of students from traditionally minoritized groups. Each high-school summer intern completes an individual project under supervision and mentorship from a graduate student in conjunction with organized and cohort-based exposure to and mini-training in computing and data science, field work and instrumentation, and communication. The graduate student mentors are formally trained and advised in the practice of mentoring via a series of workshops and individual feedback sessions. They also help design and deliver authentic exposure to and mini-training in geoscience to the interns. The interns’ projects are guided by project proposals written by the graduate students and revised with coaching from the PI.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.