Planning grant Increasing geoscience graduate student diversity in Tennessee's flagship state university

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This project aims to increase the diversity and representation of historically excluded groups in the geosciences, which are among the least diverse of all the natural sciences in the United States. The project will develop a long-term collaboration between Tennessee State University (TSU), the major historically black college and university (HBCU) in Tennessee, and University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK), the flagship research university in Tennessee, to strengthen their Earth sciences academic and research activities. The project will benefit both the students and the geoscience community by providing opportunities for academic and professional development, enhancing the diversity and inclusion of the geoscience workforce, and advancing the scientific understanding of Earth and planetary processes.The project will use a combination of methods to achieve its goals, such as: 1) campus visits by faculty to lead class lectures or present at department seminars, 2) UTK and TSU collaborative mentorship of student research projects during the regular school year, 3) UTK faculty mentorship of TSU student research as summer interns at UTK, and 4) access of TSU undergraduates to four introductory geology online courses offered by UTK: 101 (physical geology), 102 (historical geology), 103 (environmental geology), and 104 (planetary geology). The project will also create paid research internships for undergraduate students, and proactively advertise them with campus organizations that promote diversity and inclusion. The project will organize culturally sensitive mentoring training for all Earth and Planetary Sciences faculty personnel who have existing undergraduate research funding opportunities. The project will document the success of these methods via focus-group evaluation by the National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research at UTK. Success metrics will include student research publications, conference presentations, graduate school admissions, and student feedback.This project is funded by the Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity Program and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Excellence in Research Program.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.