This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate geosciences education. It will do so by scaling up a successful mentoring program in the geosciences. Many of the most urgent challenges facing society are rooted in the geosciences, including issues related to energy, air quality, climate, water availability, food security, and natural disasters. Women, particularly those from minority racial and ethnic groups, continue to be largely underrepresented in the geosciences. As a result, the talent pool available to solve these challenges is limited. Female role models and mentors can play an important role in the lives of female students, especially when choosing and committing to a career path. This project aims to increase diversity in the geoscience workforce by scaling-up a mentoring program called PROGRESS (PROmoting Geoscience Research Education and SuccesS). PROGRESS provides professional development workshops, access to female mentors and role models, peer networks, and online discussions and resources. This award will fund workshops in seven regions of the U.S. with the goal of providing undergraduate women with the tools and skills needed to build successful geoscience careers.
The project’s major goal is to scale up PROGRESS to include a larger number of regions, more diverse types of higher-educational institutions, and broadened participation of women from underrepresented and minoritized groups. The project team will build a U.S. network of support that spans at least seven geographic regions and a diversity of academic institutions. The project team will use a longitudinal experimental research design to answer the following research questions: 1) Do the benefits of PROGRESS scale up for multiple underrepresented groups and for women with intersectional identities? 2) Are the benefits of PROGRESS consistent when male mentors are included? 3) Can PROGRESS be effectively scaled-up using a train-the-trainer development and implementation model? The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.
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.
