REU Site: From the Clouds to the Core: A Place-Based REU for Southwestern US Community/Tribal College Students to Increase Under-Represented Group Recruitment to the Geosciences

亚利桑那大学（UA）的本科生研究经验（REU）网站将为来自西南地区两年制社区和部落学院的地球科学学生提供夏季研究经验机会。该计划的目标是在这些学生的学术生涯早期激发对地球科学的兴趣，并为这些学生创建一个清晰而诱人的途径，以转入四年制大学地球科学课程。该REU计划还将提供有利于通过完成四年制学位留住学生的研究后项目指导。该项目旨在建立亚利桑那大学与该地区合作伙伴两年制学院之间的持久合作网络，最终将为所有两年制大学生提供更强大的转学途径。该计划的结果也可以作为其他STEM学科本科生历史上被排除的以群体为中心的研究经验的模型。该REU计划将致力于解决有限的招生和保留历史上被排除在地球科学之外的群体之间的持续挑战，通过一个专门针对学生招聘的计划，从约15个主要是西班牙裔/拉丁裔，黑人和美洲原住民服务的区域社区和部落学院来自美国西南部。所有参与者的最初2周校园沉浸，向他们介绍地球科学学术和职业机会，校园生活和大学教育环境的气息，然后是一个为期5周的指导研究项目，在实验室中的UA工作，在基于实地的环境中，或在共同指导的环境中，从他们的家庭基地与社区大学和部落大学共同导师。在项目的最后一周，所有学生将返回美国大学参加总结性活动，包括正式的研究报告，并允许家庭参与，以表彰学生的成就。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site at the University of Arizona (UA) will provide summer research experience opportunities to geoscience students from two-year community and tribal colleges around the southwest. The goal of the program is to stimulate interest in the geosciences early in the academic careers of these students and create a clear and inviting pathway to transfer into four-year college geoscience programs for these students. This REU program will also provide post-research project mentoring conducive to retaining the students through completion of their four-year degree. The project is intended to create a lasting network of collaboration between the University of Arizona and partner two-year colleges in the region that will ultimately facilitate stronger transfer pathways for all two-year college students. The results of this program can also serve as a model for historically excluded group-focused research experiences for undergraduates for other STEM disciplines. This REU program will work to address the ongoing challenge of limited enrollment and retention among historically excluded groups from the geosciences through a program specifically targeting student recruitment from ~15 predominantly Hispanic/Latinx, Black, and Native American-serving regional community and tribal colleges from around the southwestern US. An initial 2-week campus immersion for all participants, introducing them to the breath of geosciences academic and career opportunities, campus life and the university educational setting, will be followed by a ~5-week mentored research project, working either at the UA in the lab, in a field-based setting, or in a co-mentored setting from their home base with community college and tribal college co-mentors. During the final week of the program all students will return to the UA for summative activities, including formal research presentations of their work, and allowing for family participation in recognition of their student’s achievements.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.