GP-Impact: Freshman Year to Geoscience Career

“一年级地球科学职业”项目解决了招聘、留住和培养科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科的下一代劳动力的重要国家目标，特别侧重于增加地球科学的多样性。今天，近45%的大学生在社区学院开始他们的本科教育；对于代表性不足的少数族裔（URM）大学生来说，社区大学的起点更高（54%）。这些学生在地球科学领域的代表性不足，在学术上准备不足，并且由于社会经济地位和家庭责任而受到独特的障碍。很少有人意识到地球科学是一种可能的职业。如果这些学生成功转入学士学位课程，他们通常会因为数学准备不足和缺少先决条件而推迟完成学位，以及每周工作20-40小时以养活自己和家人的普遍必要性。许多人中途退出，要么是因为他们无法完成严格的学位要求，要么是因为他们感到孤立和“没有归属感”。即使他们完成了学位，这些学生中的许多人也是家里第一个上大学的人，他们不知道如何以及何时为毕业后的事情做计划。为了解决这些障碍，该项目正在创建一个无缝的、支持性的路径，从学生选择大学专业到进入研究生院或成为一名地球科学家。皇后学院是纽约市立大学（CUNY）系统中的一所四年制学院，它与拉瓜迪亚和昆斯伯勒社区学院之间的多校区合作，保证了来自不同种族和经济背景的学生得到帮助，无论他们最初是在哪里进入教育管道。这一努力的创新策略解决了学生决定或确认从事地质或环境科学职业或退出STEM管道的四个关键点的转变：1)在社区大学开始地球科学职业道路；2)从2年制转到4年制；3)完成严谨的地球科学专业学习；4)过渡到研究生院或地球科学就业。通过在社区大学举办的定制讲习班和外联活动，学生们正在培养从事科学职业所需的技能，并获得有关地球科学领域职业选择和薪资的信息。来自三个校区的同学和教师协调的多校区招聘和建议，帮助学生做出战略性的课程选择，更好地表达四年制大学的学位要求。横跨三个校区的独特地球科学学习社区有助于从两年制无缝过渡到四年年制。新专业的学生有机会在学年之前和整个学年期间，在学术（座谈会、实地考察）和社交活动中与来自皇后学院校园的优秀学生和教师交流。当他们从社区学院转学时，学生们已经了解了皇后学院的师资队伍和获得学位的最佳途径。为优秀学生提供适度的津贴，使地球科学服务学习文化成为可能，从而节省了往返于与他们的职业目标无关的校外工作的旅费。奖学金获得者在入门课程中担任助教和导师，在帮助他人理解基本概念的同时加深自己的理解。一些学生将成为下一代地球科学专业的学生和导师。由于微积分在全国范围内被认为是完成地球科学学位的主要障碍之一，皇后学院（Queens College）的一项倡议——《时代2000》（Time 2000）正在提供免费辅导，培训学生成为高中数学教师。为了让学生更好地为毕业后的生活做好准备，该项目从大一开始提供一系列研讨会，帮助个人选择工作或研究生院；撰写简历、个人陈述和求职信；学习面试技巧。该项目的主要智力价值在于测试两种创新模式，以提高学生的参与度、学习成绩和保留率：1)一个独特的学科学习社区，横跨三个城市校区——两个联合学院（社区学院）和一个学士-硕士学院；2)一种服务学习方法，吸引学生，消除或减少经济困难的地球科学专业学生在校外从事与他们的专业目标无关的工作的需要。虽然“一年级地球科学职业”项目是专门为增加参与纽约市立大学系统校园的地球科学学生的数量和多样性而设计的，但它所解决的问题是地方性的，它提供的解决方案可以作为所有学术机构和学科的典范。

The "Freshman Year To Geoscience Career" project addresses the important national goal of recruiting, retaining, and preparing the next generation workforce in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, with specific focus on increasing diversity in the geosciences. Today, nearly 45% of all college students begin their undergraduate education at a community college; for underrepresented minority (URM) college students, the community college starting point is even larger (54%). These students are often underrepresented in the geosciences, underprepared academically, and burdened by unique obstacles due to socioeconomic status and family responsibilities. Few are aware of geoscience as a possible career. If these students transfer successfully into a bachelor's degree program, they are often delayed in completion of their degrees because of inadequate math preparation and missing prerequisites, as well as the common necessity of working 20-40 hours/week to support themselves and their families. Many drop out of the pipeline, either because they are unable to complete the rigorous degree requirements or because they feel isolated and a sense of "not belonging." Even if they complete their degrees, many of these students are first in their families to go to college and have little idea of how and when to plan for what follows graduation. To address these obstacles, this project is creating a seamless, supportive path from the time a student chooses a college major to when s/he enters graduate school or employment as a geoscientist. This multi-campus partnership between Queens College, a 4-year college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, and LaGuardia and Queensborough Community Colleges guarantees help for students from unusually diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, regardless of where they first enter the education pipeline. Innovative strategies in this effort address transitions at four key points at which students make or confirm the decision to pursue a career in Geology or Environmental Science, or to drop out of the STEM pipeline: 1) Starting a geoscience career path at a community college; 2) Transfer from a 2-year to 4-year college; 3) Completing a rigorous geoscience major; and 4) Transition to graduate school or geoscience employment. Through customized workshops and outreach at the community colleges, students are building the skills needed for a science career and being provided with information about career options and salaries in the geosciences. Coordinated multi-campus recruiting and advising by peers and faculty from all three campuses are helping students make strategic coursework choices that better articulate with the degree requirements at the 4-year institution. A unique geoscience learning community spanning all three campuses is helping to make the transition from 2-year to 4-year seamless. New majors have an opportunity to mingle with advanced students and faculty from the Queens College campuses before and throughout the academic year at academic (colloquia, field trips) and social events. By the time they transfer from their community college, students know the Queens faculty and the best path to degree completion. Modest stipends are being provided that make possible a geoscience service-learning culture for superior students, saving travel to and from off-campus jobs unrelated to their career goals. Stipend recipients serve as teaching aides and tutors in introductory courses, helping others understand basic concepts while deepening their own understanding. Some tutees will become the next generation of geoscience majors and tutors. Because calculus is known nationally as one of the major obstacles to completing a geoscience degree, free tutoring is being provided by Time 2000, a Queens College initiative that trains students to become high school math teachers. To better prepare students for their lives after graduation, the project is offering a series of workshops, starting in the freshman year, that help individuals choose job or graduate school; write resumes, personal statements, and application letters; and learn interview skills.The principal intellectual merit of this project is to test two innovative models for improving student engagement, academic performance, and retention: 1) a unique discipline-specific learning community spanning three urban campuses - two Associates (community college) and one Bachelor's-Master's college, and 2) a service-learning approach to engaging students that removes or lessens the need of financially challenged geoscience majors to work off-campus at jobs unrelated to their professional goals. Although the "Freshman Year to Geoscience Career" project is designed specifically to increase the number and diversity of geoscience students at the participating CUNY system campuses, the problems it addresses are endemic and the solutions it offers can serve as a model across all academic institutions and disciplines.