GP-IMPACT: Professional Development Pathways to Diversifying the Geosciences Workforce

多样化地球科学劳动力的专业发展途径是阿肯色大学和美国地质学会（GSA）在UNAVCO和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的协助下建立的伙伴关系，旨在扩大参与和增加全球地球科学劳动力的包容性。主要目标是帮助代表性不足的少数民族学生（urm）在国家地球科学劳动力中就业，这是国家迫切需要的领域。该项目建议设计专业发展讲习班，以增加urm申请实习或其他专业机会的数量和质量（例如GeoCorps、公园地球科学家、GIP、学生固体地球科学研究经验、RESESS等）。目的是帮助urm的高级本科生或刚开始的研究生提高书面和口头沟通技巧，表现在书面申请和/或实习/奖学金面试中。该项目是在联安援助团的协助下，阿肯色大学地球科学系和美国地质学会（GSA）为扩大未被充分代表的少数民族在地球科学领域的参与度和包容性而开展的项目的延伸。该计划将针对GSA“面向未来”（OTF）计划中的urm，并为参与者提供资金支持，以参加每年在多个GSA会议场所（年度会议和地区会议）举行的专业发展研讨会，重点学习软技能（与实习/奖学金申请相关的书面和口头沟通技能）。该计划的主要目标是为地球科学学术/职业管道中的urm提供补充专业培训，以提高实习/奖学金申请的数量和质量，从而使更多的urm被选中进行这些教育和专业经历，最终通过获得雇主梦寐以求的技术和非技术技能，帮助他们过渡到地球科学劳动力。这项实验的一个关键方面将是跟踪URM参与者的进展情况，以及他们因参加拟议的讲习班而被选中参加实习/研究金的成功率。项目人员具有独特的地位，可以在未来三年内监测这些人口，以确定他们在这项任务中的表现，以及他们如何通过通往国家地球科学劳动力的途径取得进展。预计该项目每年将支持至少40名参与者（3年内至少120名）。参与者将获得第二年和第三年的经验支持，以极大地提高他们在GSA以及地球科学专业的保留率和持久性。定期的咨询、指导、教育、培训和参与将帮助他们在地球科学领域建立一种社区意识和归属感。这一策略是一个有充分证明的最佳实践，可以促进URM的进步，并在STEM学科中取得最终成功。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。

Professional Development Pathways to Diversifying the Geosciences Workforce is a partnership between the University of Arkansas and the Geological Society of America (GSA) with assistance from UNAVCO and the University of Texas-Austin to broaden participation and increase inclusion in the global geosciences workforce. A primary objective is aiding progress of underrepresented minority students (URMs) toward employment in the national geosciences workforce, an area of critical national need. The project proposes to design professional development workshops intended to increase the quantity and quality of applications from URMs for internships or other professional opportunities (e.g. GeoCorps; Geoscientist-In-the-Parks, GIP; Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students, RESESS, etc.). The objective is to aid URMs who are advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students to improve written and oral communication skills as expressed in written applications and/or interviews for internships/fellowships.The project is an extension of programs to broaden participation and increase inclusion of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in geosciences developed at the Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas and the Geological Society of America (GSA) with assistance from UNAVCO. The proposed effort will target URMs in GSA's On to the Future (OTF) initiative and offer financial support to participants to attend professional development workshops focused on acquiring soft skills (written and oral communication skills related to internship/fellowship applications) at multiple GSA conference venues (annual and geographic section meetings) annually. The primary goal of the proposed program is to provide URMs in the geosciences academic/career pipeline supplemental professional training to enhance the quantity and quality of internship/fellowship applications such that greater numbers of URMs are selected for these educational and professional experiences, ultimately aiding their transition to the geosciences workforce through acquisition of both technical and non-technical skills coveted by employers. A critical aspect of this experiment will be to track progress of URM participants and their success rate being selected for internships/fellowships as a consequence of participation in the proposed workshops. Project personnel are uniquely positioned to monitor this population over the next three years to determine how well they perform at this task and how they progress through the pathways to the national geoscience workforce. It is anticipated the project will support at least 40 participants annually (minimum of 120 over 3 years). Participants will be supported for 2nd and 3rd year experiences in an effort to greatly increase their retention and persistence in GSA and, by extension, the geosciences profession. Recurrent counseling, mentoring, education, training, and engagement with this cohort will help them establish a sense of community and belonging within the geosciences. This strategy is a well-documented best practice for promoting URM progress and ultimate success in STEM disciplines.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.