Planning grant: Expanding academic Careers through Inclusive Transitions in Environmental Science

由于人与地球之间的关系与文化遗产和社区交织在一起，使环境劳动力多样化具有迫在眉睫的重要性。经验的差异带来了独特的问题、解决问题的方法、更大的协作创造力和创新；然而，地球科学是以研究生入学人数为基础的多样性最小的STEM领域。这项计划拨款旨在通过环境科学的包容性过渡来扩大学术生涯，旨在扩大、培育和嵌入对新墨西哥大学环境和地球科学领域的不同学者的机构支持--这是一个位于干旱、高沙漠环境中的R1少数民族服务机构(MSI)。该奖项将支持为环境科学领域的不同学者建立包容性的职业阶段过渡的活动，使他们能够通过自我创作理论来破坏环境和地球科学领域的历史和正在进行的权力结构。通过这种方式，研究人员将开发必要的条件，以实现在UNM和整个美国西南部为少数群体服务的机构网络中的集体影响原则。该项目将通过培训和讲习班提高包容性指导和研究的机构能力，从整体上支持不同的学者；创造近乎同行的联网机会，促进社会归属感；发展公平和实质性的地方专业伙伴关系。这将为全面计划的实施奠定基础，支持两个关键职业转折点的一年规划：从学士到研究生或职业生涯(学士后学者)和从博士到学术教师或非学术研究职业(博士后学者)。该奖项将在每个阶段为队列试点暑期计划，并在包容性指导战略方面培训教师导师，包括为环境科学领域的不同学者制定和使用量身定做的个人发展计划。这一规划阶段还将用于发展专业和学术网络，以便在美国西南部为少数族裔服务的机构中协作支持这些目标。该项目以批判性建构主义和自我创作理论为基础。批判性建构主义基于这样一种假设，即对现实的认识和理解--包括自我身份--是基于与世界的互动和对世界的体验，包括那些在社会、文化和历史上受到影响的体验。该项目的变革性规划将支持自我创作的认知维度以及人际和个人内部发展，以促进自我创作，同时考虑到地球科学中发现的历史权力结构。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。

As the relationships between people and the planet are interwoven with cultural heritage and community, diversifying the environmental workforce is of pressing importance. Differences in experience bring unique questions, approaches to problems, greater collaborative creativity, and innovation; however, the geosciences are the least diverse STEM field based on graduate student enrollment. This planning grant, Expanding academic Careers through Inclusive Transitions in Environmental Science, aims to expand, foster, and embed institutional support for diverse scholars in the environmental and geosciences at the University of New Mexico–an R1, Minority Serving Institution (MSI) situated in an arid, high-desert setting. This award will support activities to build inclusive career-stage transitions for diverse scholars in environmental science, empowering them through the theory of self-authorship to disrupt historical and ongoing power structures within the environmental and geosciences. In this way, the researchers will develop the necessary conditions to achieve the principles of Collective Impact at UNM and across a network of minority-serving institutions in the US Southwest. This project will holistically support diverse scholars by increasing institutional capacity for inclusive mentorship and research through training and workshops; create near-peer networking opportunities to promote social belonging; and develop equitable and substantive local professional partnerships. This will lay the groundwork for a full program implementation that would support year-long programming for two cohorts at critical career transition points: from bachelors to graduate studies or professional career (post-baccalaureate scholars) and from PhD to academic faculty or non-academic research career (postdoctoral scholars). This award will pilot summer programming for cohorts at each of these stages, and train faculty mentors in inclusive mentoring strategies, including development and use of a tailored Individual Development Plan for diverse scholars in environmental science. This planning stage will also be used to develop professional and academic networks to collaboratively support these goals across Minority Serving Institutions in the U.S. Southwest. The project is grounded in critical constructivism and self-authorship theory. Critical constructivism is based on the assumption that knowledge and understanding of reality–including identities of self–are based on interactions with and experiences of the world including those experiences that are socially, culturally, and historically inflected. The project's transformational programming will support both cognitive dimensions of self-authorship and interpersonal and intrapersonal development to facilitate self-authorship, taking the historical power structures found in the geosciences into account.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.