This award will provide support to defray expenses of student participants attending the 35th Annual Technical Conference of the National Association of Black Geoscientists (NABG). The conference will take place in New Orleans on September 7-10, 2016. The primary goal of NABG is to mentor and advise students from under-represented backgrounds pursuing BS, MS, and PhD degrees in scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, providing a competent and diverse workforce fulfilling critical national needs for the 21st Century. Professional members serve as role models to participating students, and engage in a number of mentoring activities including constructive criticism of student research projects, career counseling, guidance related to professional behavior and academic advising. A new component at the conference this year will be a pre-conference workshop where students will learn and practice non-technical skills. It is expected that providing this information prior to the conference will foster faster internalization of these newly acquired skills. The meeting serves as an opportunity for academic institutions, government agencies, and the energy/environmental industry to recruit students from underrepresented groups to STEM disciplines and employment in the national geosciences workforce.
