An integrated, intergenerational approach is being developed to attract young Alaska Natives to the geosciences as a career and to encourage declared Alaska Native geoscience majors to continue their studies. A college-level, field-intensive, introductory geoscience course is being designed specifically for the high school juniors and seniors enrolled at the Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI). This class will introduce Alaska Native students to the geologic issues and concerns relevant to Alaska Natives and their communities. Native undergraduate and graduate geoscience majors from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will work with geoscience faculty as teaching assistants and mentors to the RAHI students. This will provide an additional opportunity for geology majors to interact with faculty on an individual basis, examine the geologic issues facing Alaska Natives, and explore geology as a profession. This program is working with UAF's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), to provide student advising, tutoring and scholarship support for Alaska Native undergraduate and graduate students currently in or entering the UAF geoscience program.
