The underrepresentation of ethnic minority students in the sciences reflects neglect of a significant part of this country's human resources. The consequences of such neglect will affect the ability of the United States to improve its future global scientific competitiveness to meet the economic and societal challenges of the 21st century. Through the Minority Geoscience Scholarship program, the American Geological Institute (AGI) seeks to increase the representation of ethnic minority students in the geosciences by enhancing and expanding the support of undergraduate ethnic minority students interested in specializing in the geosciences. Historically, AGI has been a leader in Earth Science education and in support of geoscience minority student scholars. In the past 25 years, AGI has established a reputation for identifying, recruiting, and maintaining ethnic minority students in the geoscience pipeline.
