GP-UP: Kansas City Explores Earth and the Environment (KC E3) – A program to support early college URM student success through mentoring and community-focused inquiry

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。城市洪水和城市热岛等城市环境危害对有色人种的影响不成比例。应对这些挑战的地球科学工作人员缺乏代表这些人群的各自多样性。堪萨斯城探索地球与环境(KC E3)是一项为期十个月的队列体验，面向来自历史上被排除在外的社区的早期大学生。该计划旨在提高这些学生在地球科学领域的参与度和毅力，并支持更多样化的劳动力队伍，为应对环境危害和受其影响的人做好准备。KC E3由2岁和4岁的大学生组成的队列将共同为当地夏季高中社区项目-堪萨斯城青少年峰会-开发一个研究项目，以调查环境危害及其对城市景观的影响。制定和领导高中暑期计划的共同挑战将激励KC E3参与者相互支持，并在为过渡到大学的参与者提供支持的环境中将他们的主题专业知识应用于现实世界的挑战。计划的优势将在KC E3中得到加强，并被用作类似地点计划的典范。堪萨斯城探索地球与环境(KC E3)将招募来自历史上被排除在外的社区的早期大学生，他们在两年制和四年制大学(2YC，4YC)注册，参加一个为期十个月的队列计划。来自STEM和学生成功背景的导师将支持参与者为当地一个支持有色人种学生的非营利性暑期项目(堪萨斯城青少年峰会)制定和领导一项询问活动。创建一项研究活动以帮助年轻学生收集和分析与当地相关的环境危害(如极端降雨、城市洪水、城市热岛、水和空气质量)的数据是一个统一的挑战，这将鼓励KC E3参与者建立一个支持性队列，并激励他们利用主题知识，同时在一个专注于支持参与者过渡到大学的空间工作。具体地说，KC E3旨在提高学生在大学生涯早期的归属感、自我效能感和对地球科学相关性的欣赏，并增加来自历史上被排除在外的社区的学生通过地球科学学位进入劳动力市场的持久性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Urban environmental hazards such as urban flooding and urban heat island disproportionally affect populations of color. The geoscience workforce tackling these challenges lacks the respective diversity to represent these populations. Kansas City Explores Earth and Environment (KC E3) is a ten-month cohort experience for early college students from historically excluded communities. The program aims to increase participation and persistence of these students in the geosciences and support a more diverse workforce prepared to address environmental hazards and the people impacted by them. The KC E3 cohort of 2yr and 4yr college students will work together to develop a research project for a local summer high school community program, Kansas City Teen Summit, to investigate environmental hazards and their impact on urban landscapes. The shared challenge of developing and leading the high school summer program will motivate KC E3 participants to support each other and apply their subject matter expertise to real world challenges in a supportive environment for participants who are transitioning into college. Program strengths will be identified to be reinforced in KC E3 and be used as a model for programs in similar locations. Kansas City Explores Earth and Environment (KC E3) will recruit early college students, from historically excluded communities, who are enrolled in 2 yr and 4 yr colleges (2YC, 4YC) to participate in a ten-month cohort program. Mentors from STEM and student success backgrounds will support participants as they develop and lead an inquiry activity for a local non-profit summer program that supports students of color (Kansas City Teen Summit). The unifying challenge of creating a research activity to help younger students collect and analyze data on a locally relevant environmental hazards (e.g. extreme rainfall, urban flooding, urban heat island, water and air quality) will encourage the KC E3 participants to develop a supportive cohort, and be motivated to leverage subject matter knowledge, while working in a space focused on supporting participants with the transition into college. Specifically, KC E3 aims to improve the sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and appreciation of the relevance of geoscience for students early in their college career and to increase the persistence of students from historically excluded communities through geoscience degrees and into the workforce.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.