Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Increasing geoscience enrollment and engagement by transforming perceptions of geoscience among students and the general public

目前，地球科学专业的入学人数正在减少，这预计将导致未来十年地球科学家劳动力的严重短缺。我们必须扭转这一趋势，因为地球科学家对于研究和应对气候变化和其他地质灾害的影响至关重要。该项目旨在通过识别和改变学生和公众对地球科学的误解，提高地球科学的入学率和整体参与度。为了确定增加地球科学招生和参与的最佳做法，将通过公开数据和调查回复调查部门招生统计数据和学生对地球科学学习的看法和动机。这项工作将遵循投入-环境-产出模型，以评估投入（如学生人口统计、背景和观念）和环境（如院系因素）如何影响产出（如入学趋势）。调查将通过大学地球科学系和YouTube传播，以获得广泛而多样化的学生和公众受访者。有了这些数据，将确定学生和公众对地球科学兴趣增加和减少的关键因素，并用于制定地球科学部门遵循的推广和招聘策略，以增加学生入学率和公众参与度。该项目由STEM教育博士后研究奖学金（STEM Ed PRF）计划资助，旨在提高STEM， STEM教育，教育和相关学科的近期博士的研究知识，技能和实践，以促进他们从事基础和应用研究的准备，从而推进该领域的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Enrollment in geoscience departments is currently decreasing, which is projected to cause a major shortage of geoscientists in the workforce over the next decade. It is crucial that we reverse this trend as geoscientists are vital for studying and combating the effects of climate change and other geological hazards. This project aims to increase geoscience enrollment and overall engagement by identifying and transforming misperceptions of geoscience among students and the general public. To determine the best practices for increasing geoscience enrollment and engagement, department enrollment statistics and student perceptions of and motivations for pursuing geoscience will be investigated via publicly available data and survey responses. This work will follow the Input–Environment–Output model to evaluate how inputs (e.g., student demographics, backgrounds, and perceptions) and environment (e.g., departmental factors) influence outputs (e.g., enrollment trends). Surveys will be disseminated through university geoscience departments and YouTube to obtain a broad and diverse pool of student and general public respondents. With this data, the key factors that increase and decrease interest in geoscience among students and the general public will be identified and used to develop outreach and recruitment strategies for geoscience departments to follow to increase student enrollment and public engagement. This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.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.