Expanding Geoscience Research Access For Historically Excluded Communities

该项目支持美国地质学会(GSA)研究生研究助学金(GSRG)计划及其三个主要目标：1)为历史上被排斥的社区的学生增加在研究方面取得成功的机会；2)通过撰写助学金、项目管理和研究方面的有益经验，培养学生的职业技能；以及3)支持研究生在地球科学领域的研究，并加强地球科学队伍。地球科学研究与整个美国和世界的社会高度相关，影响着自然资源、能源生产、气候变化、自然灾害、环境质量等重要问题。然而，地球科学是美国最缺乏多样性的科学领域之一。历史上被排除在地球科学之外的种族/民族只占所有注册地球科学专业的美国研究生的~23%，而其他STEM学科的美国研究生的比例为~38%，占美国总人口的~43%。为了解决这些差距，GSA旨在通过一个新的模块来增强其GSRG计划，旨在增加来自这些历史上被排除在外的社区的学生申请和获得地球科学研究补助金的人数。学生助学金获得者将利用他们的资金在不同的地球科学学科产生具体的科学成果，如古生物学、地球物理学、火山学等。这个新模块是GSA长期研究生研究资助计划的一部分，该计划在过去92年里为12000多名地球科学家提供了2000多万美元。本模块的主要内容是：1)资助越来越多来自历史被排斥社区的研究生的研究；2)进一步利用GSA面向未来(OTF)计划，该计划为来自历史被排斥社区的学生提供旅行资金和指导，帮助他们参加和参与GSA Connects(GSA年会)；3)加强对来自历史被排斥社区的GSA学生成员和少数族裔服务机构(MSI)校园代表的外联；4)继续在GSA之外进行外联；以及5)改变GSRG的申请和评分程序。在三年的时间里，GSA寻求向大约1000名学生提供研究助学金，资金来自NSF奖以及美国地质学会(GSA)和美国地质学会基金会(GSAF)。GSA计划为这些学生中的大约四分之一提供补充资金，使他们能够前往科学会议，向更广泛的地球科学界展示他们的研究成果，与所在领域的其他学生和专业人员建立网络，并参与专业发展活动。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 project supports the Geological Society of America (GSA) Graduate Student Research Grants (GSRG) program and its three primary goals: 1) Increase opportunities for students of historically excluded communities to achieve success in research; 2) Build career skills of students through gainful experience with grant writing, project management, and research; and 3) Support graduate student research in the geosciences and strengthen the geoscience workforce. Geoscience research is highly relevant to society throughout the United States and the world, impacting important matters such as natural resources, energy production, climate change, natural hazards, environmental quality, and more. However, geoscience is one of the least diverse scientific fields in the United States. Members of racial/ethnic groups that have been historically excluded from the geosciences make up only ~23% of all U.S. graduate students enrolled in the geosciences, compared to ~38% of U.S. graduate students in other STEM subjects, and ~43% of the overall U.S. population. To address these gaps, GSA aims to enhance its GSRG program with a new Module aimed at increasing the number of students from these historically excluded communities who apply for and receive geoscience research grants. The student grant recipients will use their funding to generate concrete scientific results in a variety of geoscience disciplines, such as paleontology, geophysics, volcanology, and more.This new Module is part of GSA’s longstanding Graduate Student Research Grant (GSRG) program, which has provided over 20 million dollars to more than 12,000 geoscientists throughout the last 92 years. The key elements of this Module are: 1) Funding the research of an increasing number of graduate students from historically excluded communities; 2) Further leveraging of GSA’s On To the Future (OTF) program, which provides travel funds and mentoring to students from historically excluded communities to help them attend and participate in GSA Connects (GSA’s annual conference); 3) Enhanced outreach to GSA’s student members from historically excluded communities and campus representatives at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs); 4) Continued outreach outside of GSA; and 5) Changes to the GSRG application and scoring process. Over a three-year period, GSA seeks to provide research grants to approximately 1,000 students, with funding through the NSF award as well as from the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the Geological Society of America Foundation (GSAF). GSA plans to provide roughly one quarter of these students with supplemental funding to enable them to travel to scientific conferences to present the results of their research to the broader geoscience community, network with other students and professionals in their field, and participate in professional development activities.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.