Collaborative Research: GP-UP: A near surface geophysics field experience to improve the recruitment and retention of under-represented minority students in the geosciences

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。美国的本科地球科学教育在种族和民族多样性方面落后于其他科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域。对于来自历史上被排除在STEM领域的社区的学生来说，这一赤字尤其明显，并转化为劳动力和研究生水平的更大差距。值得注意的是，在过去40年中，获得地球科学博士学位的学生的种族和民族多样性没有改善。研究表明，多样性已证明有利于科学进步，包括不同的观点为解决问题提供了独特的方法;这些观点对于迎接挑战和解决地球科学的复杂问题是必要的。为了解决这一差距，PI设计了一个实地项目：“近地表的地球物理学：学生的户外激励体验”该项目旨在激励学生主修地球科学，并帮助这些学生培养在地球科学职业生涯中取得成功所需的一些工作技能。该项目将为学生参与者提供一个引人入胜的户外实地体验，这将影响他们对专业的选择，为高水平的本科生提供导师机会，创造积极和持久的师生和师生导师关系，为学生提供有意义的研究经验，并在多个机构中创建一个强大的学生群体。 该计划的目标是：（1）招收一批多样化的本科生;（2）支持学生学习临界区科学和地球物理学;（3）提高学生的科学沟通，解决问题，团队合作和领导能力;（4）增强与STEM领域保持联系的心理社会因素;（5）增加地球科学研究的参与;（6）提高学生对地球科学的认识。（6）提高对地球科学事业和研究的积极态度;（7）提高导师的领导能力和专业技能。通过实现这些目标，PI建议在参与机构和更广泛的科学界内建立一个学生的地球科学学习社区，并将增加这些学生在地球科学学位和职业中的招聘和保留。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Undergraduate geoscience education in the United States lags behind other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields when it comes to racial and ethnic diversity. This deficit is particularly notable for students who come from communities that have been historically excluded in STEM fields and translates to a larger gap in the workforce and at the graduate level. Notably, there has been no improvement in the racial and ethnic diversity of students earning doctoral degrees in the geosciences over the past 40 years. Research has shown that diversity has demonstrated benefits for scientific advancement, including that diverse perspectives provide unique approaches to problem solving; these perspectives are necessary to meet the challenges and to solve the complex problems of the geosciences. To address this gap, the PIs have designed a field program: “Geophysics of the Near-Surface: an Outdoor Motivational Experience for Students” This project aims to inspire students to major in the geoscience and help these students develop some of the workplace skills necessary to succeed in geoscience careers. The project will provide an engaging outdoor field experience for the student participants that will influence their choice of major, provide mentorship opportunities for upper-level undergraduates, create positive and lasting student-student and student-faculty mentor relationships, provide meaningful research experiences for the students, and create a strong cohort of students across multiple institutions. The goals of the program are: (1) Recruit a diverse cohort of undergraduate students; (2) Support student learning in critical zone science and geophysics; (3) Increase students’ science communication, problem solving, teamwork, and leadership skills; (4) Enhance psychosocial factors that are linked to retention in STEM fields; (5) Increase participation in geoscience research; (6) Increase positive attitudes towards geoscience careers and research; (7) Increase mentors’ leadership and professional skills. By attaining these goals, the PIs propose to build a geoscience learning community of students across the participating institutions and within the broader scientific community and will increase recruitment and retention of these students in geoscience degrees and careers.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.