NSF Award
2120038
This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).<br/><br/>This project focuses on recruiting and retaining Native American students into the Geosciences through three strategies that engage with participants at multiple points of contact from junior high to undergraduate levels. People of Native American descent make about ~4% of Bannock County’s population (home to ISU), however they only represent about ~1% of ISU’s student population and less than 1% of ISU Geoscience majors. Initially, PIs plan to work with Shoshone Bannock Jr./Sr. High School teachers and tribal elders to develop geoscience curriculum and field-based activities that tie tribal culture to iconic landscapes of Idaho and Wyoming. Secondly, a project mentor will focus on early-undergraduate and transfer student geoscience internship opportunities to facilitate career pathways. Geoscience faculty and the mentor will connect students to campus resources such as Native American Student Services, Counseling and Testing and the Career Path Internship program for educational and career pathway support. Lastly, PIs will work with the ISU Bengal Bridge Program which is a transition program between high school and college to develop best practices for recruiting through field visits. <br/><br/>This program will focus on recruiting Native Americans into the geosciences at Idaho State University (ISU) in collaboration with six educational and non-profit partners. The overarching goal is to increase the number and diversity of geoscientists attaining undergraduate degrees in eastern Idaho. To achieve this, the PIs offer a three-pronged effort that will blend informal and formal geoscience learning ecosystem strategies with multiple points of contact across a continuum of education levels. The three levels of engagement for the participants include 1) building a sense of identity by offering summer professional skill building through a youth employment program and related activities, 2) accessing trained mentors who will engage in both professional and geoscience development elements and 3) providing access to a bridge transition program that will ready students to enter undergraduate programs. The activities in this collaborative network of partnerships are based on established Community of Practice and Self-Efficacy models that can effectively support diverse recruitment and retention.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
