NSF Award
1922351
Mote Marine Laboratory will lead the Marine Science Laboratory Center of Excellence of Excellence (MarSci-LACE, a Louis Stokes Regional Center for Broadening Participation in STEM, in partnership with the Perry Institute for Marine Science, Smithsonian Institution, Florida Keys Community College, and the State College of Florida-Manatee-Sarasota. The project is collaboratively funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program and NSF INCLUDES. NSF INCLUDES focuses on catalyzing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) enterprise to collaboratively work for inclusive change.<br/><br/>As a pilot research and dissemination project, MarSci-LACE has four primary objectives. These are to:(1) establish an innovative project to study, identify, demonstrate, and articulate the need for broadening the participation of historically underrepresented and underserved students in marine science STEM fields; (2) identify, modify/develop, and distribute tools for understanding the impact of marine research learning experiences at Independent Marine Research Institutes (IMRIs) on underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students? learning, STEM identity, and career aspirations, including the impacts of the approaches and perspectives of IMRIs mentors, IMRIs support of URM learning and mentor development; (3) collect existing and develop new practical-, theory-, and evidence-based resources to address identified gaps, expand upon existing successful examples at IMRIs, and replicate proven practices in non-marine, STEM research experiences targeted at URM students, mentors, and IMRIs and LSAMP institutions; and (4) facilitate the transfer of scalable MarSci-LACE practical-, theory-,and evidence-based best practices and innovative strategies to other IMRIs and LSAMP institutions. The latter will be accomplished through online and in-person resources, training opportunities in marine STEM teaching and learning for URM students, and progression of URM students to graduate programs and completion of graduate degrees. Other contributions include publishing on effective models for increasing minority participation in marine STEM. Other contributions include publishing on effective models for increasing minority participation in marine STEM.<br/><br/>In year three of the project, MarSci-Lace will host a conference designed to share findings and best practices, cultivate additional partnerships, provide opportunities for collaboration and other informal exchanges of ideas. The external evaluation is designed to establish the foundation for nationwide documentation of improved, evidence-based STEM education in marine sciences.<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.
