9417882 Crumbly This proposal addresses a critical problem in the geosciences, the problem of under-represented minorities in the goesciences and especially as students. A major difficulty in attracting talented, science-oriented minority students to the geosciences is that, while the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have had the best track record in educating Black scientists, few HBCUs have geoscience departments. This proposal capitalizes on the successes and the networks of HBCUs and creatively addresses the problem of how to train these young scientists in geology and geophysics by giving them solid backgrounds at an HBCU in chemistry or mathematics (either of which will stand students in very good stead in careers in geoscience) and intensive geoscience training at a major university. The approach also has the potential for creating a critical mass of Black students studying geology at one institution, something that individual institutions find virtually impossible to accomplish.
