Implementation grant: Community Resilience integrated into an Earth System Science Learning Ecosystem (CRESSLE)

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。CRESSLE项目，将社区弹性整合到地球系统科学学习生态系统中，将与德克萨斯大学（UT）地球科学研究人员和社区成员合作，创造一个欢迎边缘化和少数族裔（MMG）研究人员、社区成员和学生的学习环境，同时支持在利用地球系统科学为社区服务的研究方面的密切合作。这个生态系统将理论和成功的实践结合在一起，采用四种综合策略：1)发现研究，评估MMG社区和UT地球科学家的资产和需求；2)实践社区，加入UT和MMG社区，共同解决围绕三个研究主题（水资源，气候适应能力和社区与景观）的问题；3)推进成功的科学家驻校计划，以培训和激励早期职业研究人员；4)发展非正式地球科学学习经验，由队列共同设计。这四项战略将建立一个严谨、包容的参与性研究（PR）项目，由实践社区推动，共同设计和共同开展研究，以环境正义为中心，应对社区恢复力和可持续性挑战。项目负责人运用公共关系方法应对长期存在的制度、文化和科学挑战，以应对社区面临的水、气候和景观等自然资源影响的复原力和可持续性。基于公共关系在其他学科的成功，CRESSLE将测试公共关系整合四种策略并应用地球科学来解决环境恢复力可以产生四个关键结果的想法：1)增加MMG人员对地球科学职业的参与；2)提高早期职业地球科学家的研究效率和职业路径；3)产生持久的大学-社区伙伴关系，4)帮助理解环境正义问题和社区规模的潜在解决方案。长期以来，在全国范围内存在种族偏见的制度和文化行为，导致MMG群体在地球科学/地球系统科学学科中的代表性不足。在同一时期，德克萨斯州奥斯汀的种族偏见社区和城市规划的历史导致MMG群体被隔离到受到不成比例的环境影响的社区。项目负责人认为，CRESSLE将改变地球科学社区的文化，提高MMG社区利用地球科学解决弹性问题的能力，方法是增加地球科学劳动力的多样性，建立大学与MMG社区的联系，推进公共关系和非正式地球科学学习经验的方法，参与和改变地球科学的STEM学科。项目负责人将制定一个最佳实践模式，在当地和全国范围内传播，并通过公关机会、专业发展培训和指导来支持MMG早期研究人员的职业发展。职业发展和传播计划的目标是：1)扩大创新方法的实施，以加强MMG社区在地球科学公关中的参与；2)获得机构和社区的认可以及私人/企业的支持，以在国家科学基金会的支持之外继续努力；3)使CRESSLE活动“正常化”，作为转变地球科学社区文化的一步。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Project CRESSLE, Community Resilience integrated into an Earth System Science Learning Ecosystem, will partner University of Texas (UT) geoscience researchers and community members to create a learning environment that is welcoming to marginalized and minoritized (MMG) researchers, community members, and students while supporting close collaboration on research using Earth System Science in service of communities. This ecosystem integrates theory and successful practice with four integrated strategies: 1) Discovery Research, to assess assets and needs in both MMG communities and UT geoscientists, 2) a Community of Practice, joining UT and MMG communities in cohorts to address issues around three research themes (Water Resources, Climate Resilience, and Communities & Landscapes), 3) advancement of the successful Scientist in Residence program to train and inspire early career researchers, and 4) development of Informal Geoscience Learning experiences co-designed by the cohorts. These four strategies will build a rigorous and inclusive Participatory Research (PR) program facilitated by the Community of Practice that will co-design and co-produce research to address community resilience and sustainability challenges, centered on Environmental Justice. Project leaders apply a PR approach to long-standing institutional, cultural, and scientific challenges to the resilience and sustainability of communities facing impacts on the natural resources of water, climate, and landscapes. Based on the successes of PR in other disciplines, CRESSLE will test the idea that PR integrating the four strategies and applying geoscience to address environmental resilience can produce four key outcomes: 1) increase engagement of MMG persons in geoscience careers; 2) increase research productivity and career pathways for early career geoscientists; 3) produce enduring university-community partnerships, and 4) help understand environmental justice problems and potential solutions on the neighborhood scale.A long history of racially-biased institutional and cultural actions on national scales has led to underrepresentation of MMG groups in the discipline of geoscience/Earth System Science. Over the same period, a history of racially-biased community and city planning in Austin, TX led to the segregation of MMG groups into neighborhoods that have been subject to disproportionate environmental impacts. Project leaders argue that CRESSLE will transform the culture of the geoscience community and advance MMG communities’ ability to address resilience issues using geoscience by increasing the diversity of the geoscience workforce, building university-MMG community connections, and advancing methods for PR and informal geoscience learning experiences that engage and transform the STEM discipline of geoscience. Project leaders will develop a best practices model that will be disseminated locally and nationally and support career development of early-career MMG researchers through PR opportunities, professional development training, and mentoring. The goals of the career development and dissemination plan are to: 1) expand the implementation of the innovative approach to enhance engagement of MMG communities in geoscience PR, 2) gain institutional and community endorsement and private/corporate support for sustaining efforts beyond NSF support; and 3) ‘normalize’ CRESSLE activities as a step towards transforming the culture of the geoscience community.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.