GP-IMPACT: Establishing Partnerships to Recruit Geoscience Undergraduates from Urban Chicago

对地球材料的需求不断增加，气候变化的诸多影响，以及保护空气、水和土壤质量的需要，是人类未来面临的复杂问题。在未来十年内，我国将面临大约13.5万名能够解决这些问题的熟练地球科学家的短缺。积极招收地球科学专业的学生对于弥补这一预计的缺口至关重要。城市中心，如芝加哥，提供了大量的高中和社区大学学生，他们反映了国家的社会经济和种族多样性，因此为招聘多样化的地球科学劳动力提供了丰富的来源。然而，这些学生通常不认为地球科学是一种职业。他们往往缺乏在地球科学方面的教育机会，在日常生活中，城市学生更多地与建筑环境互动，而不是与自然世界互动。他们不认为地球科学是一种可能的职业道路，他们的家人也不熟悉这门学科。需要采取令人信服和创新的方法来吸引城市学生，特别是代表性不足的少数民族学生进入这一学科。该项目的目的是让芝加哥地区的高中、社区大学和大学生了解地球科学的各个方面，这些方面塑造了他们的世界，对他们未来的经济可行性和可持续性至关重要。最终目标是增加选择地球科学领域作为专业并打算继续将地球科学作为职业的学生数量。该项目的研究结果将为针对高中和社区大学学生的不同教学模式和过渡途径提供证据基础。该项目的纵向评估将调查四年制大学吸引和留住地球科学专业学生的整体能力。更广泛的项目目标是实现新的机构对地球科学在stem学生教育和培训中的重要性和价值的认识，并建立吸引学生和加速毕业率的模型方法，这些方法可以扩展到更多的芝加哥地区机构和其他城市服务机构。伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（UIC）是一所公立研究型大学，位于芝加哥市中心，招收的学生主要来自城市地区。UIC正在与五所地区高中和两所当地社区学院合作，在这些学校，未被充分代表的少数民族学生占在校生的33%至99%。在芝加哥公立学区的三所合作高中中，只有两所（Sarah E. Goode STEM学院、林肯公园高中和North-Grand高中）开设环境科学课程，没有一所开设地球科学课程。位于公园岭郊区的缅因州东和缅因州南高中、冰碛谷社区学院和草原州立大学提供地质学入门课程，所有这些课程都可以让学生进入UIC的四年制专业。项目目标是：1)在UIC开发和实施双招生课程和夏季研讨会，向学生介绍与城市相关的地球科学；2)与所有合作院校协调，建立明确的转学协议和学术建议，以减少完成UIC地球与环境科学专业四年制学位的时间和成本；3)通过指导、招聘参观、院系开放日活动和地学信息材料等方式，增加师生之间的互动；4)召集包括家庭和当地雇主在内的其他合作伙伴，帮助学生完成学位。参加该项目的学生有望获得更好的地球科学知识和态度，为在UIC取得学术成功做好准备，并得到同龄人、教师、家庭和雇主的支持。教师们越来越擅长为学生提供城市地球科学职业选择方面的建议，并实施帮助代表性不足的群体克服成功障碍的实践。

Increasing demand for Earth materials, the many impacts of climate change, and the need to protect air, water, and soil quality are complex issues facing the future of humanity. Within the coming decade, our nation faces a shortage of approximately 135,000 skilled geoscientists who are able to address these problems. Active recruitment of students into the geosciences is essential to meet this projected shortfall. Urban centers, such as Chicago, provide large populations of high school and community college students who reflect the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the nation, and therefore provide a rich source for recruitment of a diverse geoscience workforce. However, these students do not typically consider geoscience as a career. They often lack educational opportunities in geoscience, and in their daily lives, urban students interact more with the built environment rather than the natural world. They do not view geoscience as a possible career path and their families are unfamiliar with the discipline. Compelling and innovative approaches are needed to attract urban students, and in particular underrepresented minorities, into the discipline. The aim of this project is to expose high school, community college, and college students from the Chicago region to the aspects of geoscience that shape their world and are essential to the economic viability and sustainability of their future. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of students who choose the field of geoscience as a major with the intent of continuing in geoscience as a career. Research results from this project will contribute to the evidence base for differing instructional models and transitional pathways that target high school and community college students. Longitudinal evaluation of the project will investigate the overall ability to attract and retain those students as geoscience majors at 4-year institutions. Broader project goals are to achieve new institutional awareness of the importance and value of geoscience in the education and training of STEM-oriented students and to establish model approaches for engaging students and accelerating graduation rates that can be extended to more Chicago area institutions and other urban-serving institutions in the future.The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a public research and underrepresented minority-serving university in downtown Chicago that draws its enrollment largely from the urban area. UIC is partnering with five regional high schools and two local community colleges, where underrepresented minority students constitute 33 to 99% of the enrollment. Only two of three high school partners in the Chicago Public Schools district (Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, Lincoln Park High School, and North-Grand High School) offer environmental science, and none offers geoscience classes. Maine East and Maine South high schools in suburban Park Ridge, Moraine Valley Community College, and Prairie State College offer introductory geology courses, all of which could launch students into the 4-year major at UIC. Project objectives are to 1) develop and implement dual enrollment courses and summer workshops at UIC that introduce students to urban-relevant geoscience; 2) coordinate with all partner institutions to establish clear transfer agreements and academic advising to reduce the time and cost of completing a 4-year degree in the Earth and Environmental Sciences major at UIC; 3) provide more interactions between students and faculty, through mentoring, recruitment visits, departmental open house events, and geoscience informational materials; and 4) assemble additional partners including families and local employers to help support students through their degree. Students participating in the program are expected to gain improved knowledge and attitude towards the geosciences, be prepared to succeed academically at UIC, and be supported by a network of peers, faculty, family, and employers. Faculty are becoming more adept at advising students in urban geoscience career options, and in implementing practices that help underrepresented groups overcome barriers to success.