Planning Grant: Developing capacity to attract diverse students to the geosciences: A public relations framework

地球科学中持续缺乏多样性，使该学科失去了独特的观点，经验，价值观和动机，这些都有助于更强大的科学成果。为了使该领域发展并吸引更多样化的人口，地球科学家需要修改他们如何构建该领域，以更准确地反映学科的广度，并与潜在学生的兴趣保持一致。该项目解决了如何吸引学生到地球科学，使他们有助于该领域，包括一系列社会相关的职业选择，影响水质和可持续性，替代能源，追求解决方案，以气候相关的问题，以及使用尖端的职业计算和数据科学。这个项目将使用调查和焦点小组，以发现什么类型的营销材料最吸引学生在不同阶段的职业意识。首先，该团队将了解到什么吸引了加州州立大学奇科分校的潜在地球科学学生，然后将利用这些反馈设计出吸引高中生、两年制大学生和奇科州立大学一年级本科生的营销材料。这将创建一个跨学科、多机构的团队，他们将合作调查地球科学的代表性，吸引不同的人群进入这一学科。该团队将设计，开发和测试旨在吸引不同学生群体的营销材料。研究团队将通过内容分析、焦点小组和调查，系统地收集和汇编关于吸引学生进入地球科学的数据。研究人群将是在CSU，奇科，以及地区高中和两年制大学的入门级STEM课程的学生。研究结果将确定吸引当前和未来学生学习地球科学的框架类型，并将在地球科学会议报告和出版物中传播。从这项研究中创建的循证招聘材料将免费提供给其他机构的地球科学项目和部门下载、改编和使用。该项目的下游成果预计包括吸引更多不同的学生群体加入地球科学，这将扩大高等教育和STEM劳动力的参与，并为社会需求做出贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

A persistent lack of diversity in Geosciences robs the discipline of unique perspectives, experiences, values, and motivations that contribute to stronger scientific outcomes. For the field to grow and attract a more diverse population, geoscientists need to modify how they frame the field to reflect the breadth of the discipline more accurately and in ways that align with potential students’ interests. This project addresses how to attract students to Geosciences so they contribute to the field including to a range of socially relevant career options that impact water quality and sustainability, alternative energy, pursue solutions to climate-related issues, as well as careers that use cutting-edge computing and data science. This project will use surveys and focus groups to discover what types of marketing materials best appeal to students in various stages of career awareness. By first learning what appeals to potential geosciences students at California State University, Chico, the team will then use that feedback to design marketing materials that appeal to students in high school, two-year colleges, and first-year undergraduates at CSU, Chico.It will create an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team who will collaboratively investigate representations of the geosciences that attract diverse populations to the discipline. The team will design, develop, and test marketing materials intended to attract diverse student populations. The research team will systematically collect and compile data about what attracts students to the geosciences through content analysis, focus groups, and surveys. The study population will be students in introductory-level STEM courses at CSU, Chico, and in area high schools and two-year colleges. Results will identify the types of frames that attract current and future students to geosciences and will be disseminated in geoscience conference presentations and publications. The evidence-based recruiting materials created from this research will be freely available to download, adapt and use by geoscience programs and departments at other institutions. Downstream results of this project are expected to include attracting more diverse student populations to the geosciences, which will broaden participation in higher education and the STEM workforce and contribute to societal needs.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.