Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Minorities in Geoscience

Thursday, Friday 8:30am-11:30am TSU - Humphries: 221
Workshop

Conveners

Jessica Oster, Vanderbilt University
De'Etra Young, Tennessee State University
Lily Claiborne, Vanderbilt University
Broadening participation of underrepresented minorities remains a persistent difficulty in geosciences. A great deal of work is currently being done to address this issue, and EER 2019, hosted for the first time at an HBU, provides an excellent opportunity to delve into this work. This workshop aims to bring together people who are involved or interested in in efforts to improve participation of URM in geosciences, including through NSF's Geopaths program, efforts by the HBCU working group, and other formal and informal efforts. Participants will share the work in which they are involved, to share models and ideas across the community. The group will discuss what is working well in their programs and efforts, including a description of the evidence of this success where possible, followed by a discussion of persistent challenges they face. We will end the workshop looking forward to outline what are the important next steps we as a community need to take to address the challenges and move forward with greater success.
Workshop Program »

Audience

This workshop is intended for anyone who is involved in efforts to improve the participation of underrepresented minorities in geoscience at all academic levels, and to those who are interested in becoming involved in these efforts. This could include PIs and participants of programs funded through the NSF Geopaths initiative and/or the HBCU working group or independent efforts at any institution. We also welcome earth, environmental, and related science faculty at HBCUs and 2-year colleges, as well as graduate students, postdocs, and K-12 educators who have interest and/or experience in improving participation of underrepresented groups in the geosciences.

Goals

Our collective goals during this workshop are to:
  • Develop an understanding of the potential barriers to URM participation in geosciences.
  • Learn about and share current efforts underway and in development to overcome these barriers and improve participation of URM students in the geosciences at all academic levels.
  • Discuss successes and challenges in implementing these efforts.
  • Grow a community of earth science educators who are involved and interested in broadening the participation of URM students in the geosciences.
  • Develop a set of best practices and goals for the community to address together and individually to move this effort forward.

Format

Workshop Program »Each day will include introductory descriptions of current efforts and challenges followed by discussion and planning in large and break-out groups. On the final day we will develop a list of best practices, priorities for these efforts moving forward, and concrete goals to work toward as a community.


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