InTeGrate Liaison and SAGE2YC Advisory Board Member from Pasadena City College

Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman, Pasadena City College

In addition to being an advisory board member for SAGE2YC, I am a co-PI on the NSF-funded, five-year InTeGrate project that aims to improve geoscience literacy and build a workforce that can make use of geoscience to solve societal issues. My role is to oversee the involvement of 2-year colleges (2YCs) and to be certain that issues unique to 2YCs are identified and considered during the program development, testing, and dissemination. As such I am a liaison between the InTeGrate and SAGE2YC groups, and am very excited to be involved in both programs.

I am very fortunate to be an associate professor in a 2YC geology department that churns out a significant number of students who plan to transfer to four-year institutions and major in geology. Pasadena City College offers a fantastic geology program that focuses on field experiences and includes advanced courses such as mineralogy and field mapping. We have a very popular student geology club that raises funds with activities such as on-campus rock and mineral sales and uses the funds to take 2-4 day "fun" field trips to places like the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree (CA), and the Channel Islands (CA).

My greatest interest related to this workshop is in the area of career awareness. Many of our students, like me so many decades ago, are so fascinated by geology that they decide to major in it without really knowing what might come next. I believe I speak for many of my colleagues as well as myself when I say that I really do not have up-to-date information on current geoscience career options and societal needs which geoscientists can fulfill.