This award provides renewed funding for the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence - Ocean Systems (COSEE-OS). Through its ongoing efforts, COSEE-OS has identified key areas for future growth, including: (i) facilitating the creation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) resources that are conceptually linked to ocean-climate content; (ii) scaling up ocean scientists' impacts by taking advantage of networking infrastructure; and (iii) building tools to assess the quality of consensus-based products created by diverse communities.
The Center will expand its successful model of creating software that is flexible, transferrable, and user focused for the ocean science community. OS will share this model via workshops for scientists at other COSEE's. OS will scale up its regional initiatives to have national impact, with a focus on rural and inland audiences. In addition, a new partnership with the Institute for Broadening Participation is improving engagement of underrepresented minorities in OS opportunities, and will serve as a model for the greater Network. By supporting existing educational programs, OS will assist two small, but prestigious, research laboratories -- Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences -- in meeting their goal of providing effective research experiences for K-12 educators and "young scientists" in training. The Center's goal is to build Capacity nationwide, honing individuals' abilities to develop effective "Broader Impacts" (BI) activities. This is accomplished, in part, by engaging informal education institution partners such as Seacoast Science Center (SSC) and New England Aquarium (NEAq) to aid in the development of BI activities with scientists. The Center also supports the New England Ocean Sciences Education Collaborative (NEOSEC), a diverse network of over 40 organizations coordinated by NEAq, to build regional capacity by training its educators in planning and implementing BI activities for ocean scientists. This ensures that the content and products of current ocean science research can efficiently reach a broad audience in a timely fashion.
A newly formalized partnership with the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) unites the New England cadre of ocean science educators and their students to the NERACOOS scientists, providing opportunities to increase the BI for scientists. The Center's joint efforts with New England regional Sea Grant Extension staff to field test new analytical tools that aid consensus building about climate change issues in New England coastal communities is another opportunity for scientists to increase their BI activities.
Through its ongoing efforts, COSEE-OS (Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence – Ocean Systems) has identified key areas for future growth, including: (i) facilitating the creation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) resources that are conceptually linked to ocean-climate content; (ii) scaling up ocean scientists' impacts by taking advantage of networking infrastructure; and (iii) building tools to assess the quality of consensus-based products created by diverse communities. The Institute for Broadening Participation (IBP) is a nonprofit with a mission to increase diversity in STEM. The partnership between COSEE-OS and IBP: 1) improved engagement of underrepresented minorities in OS opportunities, and 2) served as a model for the greater COSEE Network. IBP implemented the project via a four-pronged strategy involving 1) strategic web resources and database infrastructure 2) targeted virtual and face-to-face outreach to STEM students, faculty, and administrators at the undergraduate and graduate levels, 3) development of web-based and print materials to support both students and faculty, and 4) partnership building activities to support partnership building among Ocean Science faculty and administrators. All together, IBP’s activities support underrepresented students in their efforts to seek and successfully apply to research, funding, mentoring, and professional development opportunities and go on to succeed in Ocean Science careers; assist faculty and administrators in their efforts to support and mentor students, build partnerships, and contribute to the pool of best practices; and grow diversity awareness and cultural competency in programs, departments, and institutions. "Many Learning Pathways" Webinar Series: IBP finds webinars to be extremely valuable for several reasons: 1) they help IBP reach more people with fewer travel dollars, 2) IBP can direct students to webinar archives and related materials even after the webinar is over and 3) IBP can connect students with webinar archives and resources even if they register for the webinar but cannot attend the webinar because of time or other constraints. Webinar handouts, links, and other resources are posted on IBP’s webinar archives page, and video archives of each webinar are posted to IBP’s YouTube page. Webinars included: * Funding your Graduate Education * Making the Most of your Postdoc Position * Paid Summer Research for Undergraduates * Introduction to Broadening Participation Resources * Mentoring Underrepresented Students * Transitioning from Community College to a 4 Year College * Preparing and Applying for a Postdoc Position * Negotiating a Postdoc Position * Making the Most of your Postdoc Position * Pathways of Support "Be Inclusive" Workshops: COSEE-OS and IBP developed and hosted several workshops aimed at effective ways to present scientific information, addressing preconceptions towards science and understanding how to communicate to various audiences. Workshops involved demonstrating to research scientists how to share their research effectively as well as illuminating the positive factors that research indicates support success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers and reduce barriers to minority participation. Two accompanying materials were created in conjunction with the workshops: * Broadening Participation Resources for Faculty * Designing for Success: Positive Factors that Support Student Success in STEM National COSEE Diversity Steering Committee and Workshop IBP served on the National COSEE Diversity Working Group. At multiple COSEE Annual Network Meetings, IBP facilitated breakout sessions and/or created and presented workshop material to help the group accomplish its broadening participation goals.
