Collaborative Proposal: GP-IMPACT: Ambassadors for STEM Training to Enhance Participation (A-STEP)

地球科学家在影响全球人类社会的问题的第一线工作，需要受过良好教育的公众定位，帮助决策者了解地球的复杂运作，确保数十亿居民的安全。扩大地球科学的多样性和包容性至关重要，因为以地球科学为依据的决策既是社会正义的问题，也是国家关键需求的问题。最近关于社会脆弱性的研究，特别是基于收入、种族、民族和住房等社会因素的社区对极端自然事件的脆弱性，发现有色人种社区往往是最容易受到这些自然事件影响的群体之一。为了正面应对这一挑战，STEM培训促进参与大使（a - step）计划将为来自代表性不足的社区的学生群体提供变革性的航海体验，这些学生将具备扎实的科学背景和科学沟通技能。这一经验将拓宽人们对海洋作为全球和环境变化驱动因素的作用的看法，并有望使大使们能够在各自不同的社区内宣传这种变化。该项目将利用美国运营的海洋研究船的过境，培训各种STEM和非STEM学生进行科学传播。在导师和科学导师的指导下，这些学生将成为有效的地球科学大使，向广大观众传播令人兴奋和相关的地球科学信息。A-STEP项目的目标是：(1)在全国代表性不足的群体中提高地球科学和地球科学相关职业的形象；(2)为实现这一目标，制作一系列引人入胜的多媒体产品；(3)借鉴科学海洋钻探和相关研究，开发面向K-12年级学生的教育故事板模块，展示全球变化对海洋和陆地系统的影响；(4)通过更多地关注气候和环境变化与所有公民的相关性，促进地球科学相关领域和职业选择的知识多样性。为了实现这些目标，每年将有16名来自STEM和非STEM专业人才的学生与科学家和科学教育/传播专业人员一起乘坐JOIDES Resolution和UNOLS船只进行短途过境巡航。学生将在科学丰富的海洋巡航环境中亲身了解从海洋沉积物、海洋生物、海洋污染、水化学、天气和气候模式以及海底动力学中收集的数据的重要性。随后，这些新任命的大使将被部署到他们的社区和全国各地，传播地球科学信息和职业的重要性和相关性，创造创新产品并介绍他们的经验，并将气候和环境变化与人们的日常生活联系起来。a - step团队将成为激励下一代地球科学家的全国性丰富资源。作为推广STEM知识和职业的大使，项目参与者将为信息带来意义和价值，展示气候和环境变化如何影响所有公民，无论是城市还是农村。与科学和科学家没有直接联系的公民，不幸的是，他们是不成比例的非洲裔美国人、拉丁裔美国人和印第安人社区，往往更容易受到错误信息的影响，尤其会从与A-STEP学生的互动中受益。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。

Geoscientists work on the front lines of issues affecting human communities worldwide, requiring an educated public positioned to help decision-makers understand Earth's complex workings and ensure the safety of its billions of inhabitants. Expanding diversity and inclusivity in the geosciences is critical as decision-making informed by geosciences is a matter of both social justice and critical national need. Recent research on social vulnerability, particularly the vulnerability of communities to extreme natural events based on social factors such as income, race, ethnicity, and housing, finds that communities of color are often among those most vulnerable to these natural events. To address this challenge head-on, the Ambassadors for STEM Training to Enhance Participation (A-STEP) program will provide a transformative seagoing experience to cohorts of students from underrepresented communities who will be equipped with both solid science background and science communication skills. This experience will broaden perspectives on the role of the oceans as a driver of global and environmental change and is expected to empower ambassadors to communicate that change within their own diverse communities. The project will leverage transits of U.S.-operated marine research vessels to train diverse STEM and non-STEM students in science communication. Under the guidance of instructors and science mentors, these students will become effective ambassadors to disseminate exciting and relevant geoscience information across broad audiences. The goals of the A-STEP project are to: (1) Raise the profile of geosciences and geoscience-related careers among under-represented groups nationwide; (2) Produce a series of engaging multimedia products to contribute towards this goal; (3) Draw from scientific ocean drilling and related research to develop educational storyboard modules aimed at K-12 audiences showing the impacts of global change on marine and terrestrial systems; and (4) Contribute to increased diversity of knowledge across geoscience-related fields and career choices by drawing greater attention to the relevance of climate and environmental change for all citizens.To achieve these goals, cohorts of 16 students annually from talented pools of STEM and non-STEM majors will join scientists and science education/communication professionals on short transit cruises on the JOIDES Resolution and UNOLS vessels. Students will learn first-hand in the scientifically-rich environment of an oceanographic cruise the significance of data gleaned from marine sediments, marine organisms, marine pollution, water chemistry, weather and climate patterns, and seafloor dynamics. Subsequently, these newly-minted ambassadors will be deployed across their communities and the nation to transmit the importance and relevance of geoscience information and careers, create innovative products and presentations about their experiences, and make linkages between climate and environmental change and people's daily lives. A-STEP cohorts will become a rich nationwide resource for inspiring the next generation of geoscientists. As ambassadors tasked with promoting STEM knowledge and careers, program participants will bring meaning and value to information, demonstrating how climate and environmental change is affecting all citizens, urban and rural. Citizens with few direct connections to science and scientists, who unfortunately are disproportionately African American, Latino, and Native American communities, are often more vulnerable to misinformation and will especially benefit from interactions with A-STEP students.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.