The Ka'imi'iki program builds on a pilot Track 1 OEDG effort to engage Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander undergraduate students in geoscience degree programs and careers. Pathways into the fields of geoscience are being encouraged through an exploratory summer institute where local geoscientists showcase their careers and research. Ten students will participate each year in the 3-week summer institutes, which will feature instruction on use of geotechniques such as GIS, remote sensing, and GPS technologies; field trips to geologically interesting sites, including the Big Island volcanoes; visits to the laboratories of UH researchers in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST); and presentations by scientists working with NOAA and USGS, among others. Cultural connections to Native communities and locally important features are being integrated with Western science concepts. Students are being recruited from freshman and sophomore classes within the University of Hawaii system and area community colleges, with particular emphasis on those who have undeclared majors or an interest in geoscience degrees. Paid internships with professional geoscientists and scholarships will be provided to a subset of students who wish to continue in these fields following the summer institute. Through project activities, students will become more aware of geoscientist role models and job opportunities within the Hawaiian Islands.
800x600 Many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island (NHPI) college-bound students are unaware of the variety of majors or the career possibilities in geoscience disciplines. This notably can be seen by the low number of Native Hawaiians who hold geoscience positions, even in their home of Hawaii. The Ka`imi`ike program was developed to introduce NHPI students to fields within the geosciences by engaging them in linked culture & science pathways, which included an exploratory summer institute where local geoscientists showcased their careers and research. Activities that utilized geotechniques (GIS, remote sensing, and GPS technologies) were integrated into the summer program activities since these are cutting-edge across many geoscience disciplines. The target audience for the summer program was NHPI freshman and sophomores within the UH system who(se): 1. majors were declared undecided; or 2. had expressed an interest in the geosciences, but had a declared major outside of the geosciences. Ka`imi`ike also provided an avenue for a cooperative internship program where students who were already pursuing a geoscience degree could mature and solidify their academics through hands-on research experiences. The intellectual merit of Ka`imi`ike included the creation of a mechanism for linking NHPI students to geoscientists in order to build role models and to facilitate the students’ participation in local research projects. The broader impacts of the Ka`imi`ike program included affording NHPI students the opportunity to be exposed to technologies used in the geosciences, while also providing a pathway to increase the number of NHPI graduating with a degree in a geosciences discipline and continuing on to participate in the local workforce.
