GP-GO: Iowa Environmental Internship Pathways Program

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。地球科学、环境科学和环境工程，在这里统称为GEO-STEM，位于科学和社会的交界处。21世纪的许多重大挑战，包括获得清洁空气和水、生物多样性以及全球变化的影响，都有赖于GEO-STEM工作人员的技能。不幸的是，美国正面临着进入GEO-STEM劳动力队伍所需的训练有素的人员的严重短缺，而学生进入的学生往往缺乏应对这些挑战所需的技能。此外，鉴于GEO-STEM行业和主题(资源开采、获得清洁空气和水等)的负面影响。由于来自这些社区的大多数人不成比例地落在有色人种社区，从历史上看，这些社区的大多数人都被排除在GEO-STEM领域之外。这不仅不利于补救这些负面影响的未来，还限制了释放这一重要且不断增长的美国劳动力部门可用的人才的能力。该项目将在爱荷华州建立一个GEO-STEM学习生态系统(GLE)，这将增加学生进入研究生院和GEO-STEM劳动力的准备，并将在这样做的同时增加爱荷华大学GEO-STEM学生的数量和多样性。这些目标将通过教育、政府和工业合作伙伴提供的一系列课外和课外学习、实习和专业发展机会来实现。紧迫的社会问题，如获得清洁的空气和水、土壤健康、生物多样性保护和全球变化的影响，都是GEO-STEM从根本上关注的问题，作为一个国家，要解决这些问题，我们必须能够培养一支高技能的GEO-STEM劳动力队伍，准备迎接这些挑战。通过学生教育途径的关键过渡，招聘、保留、培训和指导学生是满足增加就业人数的压倒性需求的重要组成部分。PI为爱荷华州新的GEO-STEM学习生态系统(GLE)提出了一系列合作、伙伴关系和机会，重点是从大学毕业到劳动力的关键过渡。爱荷华州GLE的发展将提供教育-政府-行业合作伙伴关系，这是产生真实的、真实的、基于工作的学习所必需的，这对培养下一代GEO-STEM学生是如此关键。该项目将创建一个环境实习计划，该计划将持续到拨款有效期之后，将为学生提供课堂外和学术之外的重要体验式学习机会，使他们为最终过渡到GEO-STEM工作队伍做好更好的准备。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Geoscience, Environmental Science, and Environmental Engineering, collectively referred to as GEO-STEM herein, lie at the interface of science and society. Many of the grand challenges of the 21st century, including access to clean air and water, biodiversity, and the impacts of global change, rely on the skills of the GEO-STEM workforce. Unfortunately the United States is facing a critical shortfall in trained personnel to enter the GEO-STEM workforce, and what students are entering are often underprepared with the skills required to meet these challenges. Additionally, whereas the negative impacts of GEO-STEM industries and topics (resource extraction, access to clean air and water, etc.) fall disproportionately on communities of color, most individuals from these communities have been historically excluded from GEO-STEM fields. This is not only detrimental to the future of remediation of these negative impacts, but also limits the ability to unlock the talent available in this important and growing sector of the U.S. workforce. This project will develop a GEO-STEM Learning Ecosystem (GLE) in the State of Iowa that will increase student preparedness to enter graduate school and the GEO-STEM workforce, and will do so while increasing the number and diversity of GEO-STEM students at the University of Iowa. These goals will be accomplished through a series of extra-curricular and outside-of-the-classroom learning, internship, and professional development opportunities provided by educational, government, and industrial partners.Pressing societal issues such as access to clean air and water, soil health, preservation of biodiversity, and the impacts of global change are all fundamentally GEO-STEM concerns, and to address these issues as a nation we must be able to produce a highly skilled GEO-STEM workforce ready to meet these challenges. Recruitment, retention, training, and mentoring students through critical transitions in their educational pathways are important components to address the overwhelming need for increasing the number of students entering the workforce. The PIs propose a series of collaborations, partnerships, and opportunities for a new GEO-STEM Learning Ecosystem (GLE) in the State of Iowa focused on the critical transition from university graduation to the workforce. The development of a GLE in Iowa will provide the education-government-industry partnerships that are required to generate the authentic, real-world, work-based learning that is so critical to training the next generation of GEO-STEM students. The project will create an environmental internship program that will be sustained past the lifetime of the grant that will provide students with important experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom and outside of academia that will better prepare them for eventual transition to the GEO-STEM workforce.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.