REU Site: Creating research pathways and enhancing diversity through the study of Earth's interior, surface, and climate

21世纪的动态地球：地球内部、表面和气候演变的本科生研究REU站点是一个研究实习暑期项目，将本科生带到布朗大学与地球、环境和行星科学系的教师一起工作。学生们还将通过领导力联盟（Leadership Alliance）参与职业发展活动。领导力联盟是一个由36所博士授予机构、少数民族服务机构和私营企业组成的全国性联盟，致力于培训和指导来自不同文化和学术背景的学生，使他们能够参加有竞争力的研究生课程和专业的研究型职业。这个REU网站的主要目标是招收八名学生，主要来自代表性不足的少数群体，从事地球和环境科学的研究。该项目将在三个暑假中分别为不同的学生提供为期九周的支持。研究项目将包括气候变化的记录和后果、火山爆发的物理学、从地震波推断的地球内部结构，以及地球和环境科学的其他基本主题。这种研究经验将帮助学生培养批判性思维，研究方法，科学写作和口头报告的技能。通过他们的研究和一系列其他活动，学生们还将深入了解读研和从事研究工作的可能途径。这些活动包括每周一次的学习小组、领导联盟全国专题讨论会、参加全国科学会议以及其他专业发展和网络活动。该项目由地球科学REU计划和促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）联合资助。这个REU网站，21世纪的动态地球：地球内部，表面和气候演变的本科研究，是布朗大学地球，环境和行星科学系（DEEPS）和领导联盟之间的合作项目。我们的目标是：1)使来自布朗大学以外的不同本科生群体能够研究调节地球内部、表面和气候演变的基本过程；2)帮助学生发展批判性研究、沟通和专业技能，以增加他们的信心，并对研究过程和研究事业有更深入的了解；3)提高学生对研究生院的认识和理解，以促进他们进入有竞争力的地球科学和更广泛的物理科学研究生课程。这个REU网站建立在一个成功的三年deeps联盟伙伴关系的基础上，该伙伴关系吸引了12名不同的本科生进行创新研究，并帮助他们走上研究职业的道路。该网站将继续专注于招收来自地球科学领域代表性不足的少数群体的学生、女性、第一代大学生、来自低收入家庭的学生、STEM研究机会有限的学校的学生以及残疾学生。研究项目将包括解决从海洋和湖泊沉积物推断的古气候变化的关键问题；冰盖反照率及其对融化的影响；人类与大气化学的相互作用；岩浆房性质及其喷发潜力；火成岩热史测定；以及用地震波测量岩石圈和软流圈的性质。在三个暑假里，八名学生实习生将与DEEPS的一名教师一起工作九周，并将得到他们周围的研究团队、每周学习小组、以及布朗大学和全国范围内领导力联盟高效的专业发展和网络项目的进一步支持。学生们将学习以书面形式交流他们的工作，并通过在领导联盟全国研讨会、布朗大学的研究研讨会、秋季美国地球物理联盟或美国地质学会会议上的演讲来交流他们的工作。这个REU网站将把领导联盟少数族裔服务和以本科生为重点的机构的成熟网络与深度研究机会结合起来，为地球科学研究生课程创造一个新的以研究为重点的高素质学者库。该项目还将为联盟和DEEPS合作机构的活动开发最佳实践和方法。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。

The Dynamic Earth in the 21st Century: Undergraduate research on the evolution of Earth's interior, surface and climate REU Site is a research internship summer program that will bring undergraduate students to Brown University to work with faculty in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. The students will also engage in career development activities through the Leadership Alliance, which is a national consortium comprised of 36 PhD-granting Institutions, Minority-Serving Institutions and private industry dedicated to training and mentoring students from diverse cultural and academic backgrounds for competitive graduate programs and professional research-based careers. A primary goal of this REU Site is to recruit eight students, primarily from underrepresented minority groups, to engage in research in Earth and environmental science. The program will support a different group of students for nine weeks in each of three summers. Research projects will include work on the record and consequences of climate change, the physics of volcanic eruptions, the structure of the Earth's interior inferred from seismic waves, and other fundamental topics in the Earth and environmental sciences. This research experience will help the students to develop skills with critical thinking, research methodologies, scientific writing and oral presentations. Through their research and a range of other activities, students will also gain insight on possible pathways through graduate school and research careers. These activities include a weekly study group, the Leadership Alliance National Symposium, participation in a national science meeting, as well as other professional development and networking events. This project is jointly funded by the Earth Sciences REU program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This REU Site, Dynamic Earth in the 21st Century: Undergraduate research on the evolution of Earth's interior, surface and climate, is a collaborative venture between the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) at Brown University and the Leadership Alliance. Our goals are to: 1) enable a diverse group of undergraduates from outside of Brown to investigate fundamental processes regulating the evolution of the Earth's interior, surface and climate; 2) help students develop critical research, communication and professional skills, in order to increase their confidence and gain greater understanding of the research process and research careers; and 3) promote student awareness and understanding of graduate school to facilitate transition into competitive graduate programs in Earth science and the broader physical sciences. This REU Site builds on a successful three-year DEEPS-Alliance partnership that engaged 12 diverse undergraduates in innovative research and aided them on their pathways to research careers. The Site will continue to focus on recruiting students from underrepresented minority groups in the geosciences, women, first generation college students, students from lower income households, students who attend schools where STEM research opportunities are limited, and students with disabilities. Research projects will include those that address key questions about paleoclimate changes inferred from marine and lake sediments; ice sheet albedo and its implications for melting; human interactions with atmospheric chemistry; magma chamber properties and their potential for eruption; the determination of igneous rock thermal histories; and the properties of the lithosphere and asthenosphere measured by seismic waves. During three summers, eight student-interns will work for nine weeks with a member of the DEEPS faculty, and will be further supported by their surrounding research team, a weekly study group, and the highly effective professional development and networking programs of the Leadership Alliance, both at Brown and nationally. The students will learn to communicate their work in writing, and through presentations at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium, a research symposium at Brown, and either the Fall American Geophysical Union or the Geological Society of America meetings. This REU Site will synthesize the well-established network of Leadership Alliance minority-serving and undergraduate-focused institutions with DEEPS research opportunities to create a new pool of research-focused, highly qualified scholars for graduate programs in the geosciences. The program will also develop best practices and methodologies for activities at Alliance and DEEPS partner institutions.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.