RCN: Geosciences Associated Societies Committed to Embracing and Normalizing Diversity (Geosciences ASCEND)

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A Research Coordination Network (RCN) will be established with the University of Arkansas, Geological Society of America (GSA), University of Florida, James Madison University, and University of Texas-Austin serving as the lead entities to organize thirty associated societies, organizations and institutions broadly representing the Geosciences disciplines. The Geosciences Associated Societies Committed to Embracing and Normalizing Diversity Research Coordination Network (Geosciences ASCEND RCN) will focus on action to 1) advance and accelerate cultural change in geosciences, 2) broaden participation of diverse identities in geoscience, and 3) create a more inclusive discipline in which all people may participate and contribute. The Geosciences ASCEND RCN Steering Committee is comprised of the Principal Investigators and senior personnel representing six academic institutions and eleven professional societies and organizations. Thus, Geosciences ASCEND RCN is broadly representative of professional organizations that serve geoscientists in the national geoscience workforce. Framing diversity and inclusion in geosciences through system dynamics, team leaders will engage the network to provide a different perspective with the goal of creating a more inclusive geoscience workforce. Basing actions on the theory of Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM), the RCN will develop and deploy activities with demonstrated efficacy for effecting broad behavioral changes. CBSM has been used effectively in the discipline of Sustainability to develop more sustainable behaviors among broadly different populations. Actions embraced by CBSM center on community and emphasize the community benefits of adopting the specific actions. Thus, CBSM is a powerfully persuasive mechanism to promote changes that are embraced by the audience. Successful CBSM initiatives establish behaviors that are permanently adopted by the groups engaged in the process. The Geosciences ASCEND RCN will explore the elements and attributes of Geosciences Culture to better understand how specific norms may be a barrier to inclusion. More importantly, Geosciences ASCEND RCN will recommend actions to be implemented by member professional societies to lower or eliminate cultural participatory barriers. By sharing common information about actions that can lower or eliminate participatory barriers, the RCN will support a more diverse and inclusive geoscience workforce and community of learners.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.