ED028-04
Engaging Youth from the Real NYC in Weather and Climate Research

Friday, 11 December 2020: 04:15
Virtual
Veeshan T Narinesingh1, Jeann Espinal2, Adey King2, Mason Mercier2, Jiehao Huang3 and John Lewis2, (1)CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, United States, (2)Hamilton Grange Middle School, New York, NY, United States, (3)CUNY New York City College of Technology, Mathematics, Brooklyn, NY, United States
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
The “underrepresentation problem” in climate sciences is real, but what can we as scientists do about it? One way is to tackle the problem at the K-12 level within underserved communities. This work presents a yearlong weather and climate training program with students from a Title 1 middle school in Harlem, New York City. This training program was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, six 8th graders of varying backgrounds and academic strengths were chosen; Students met weekly to learn the basics of climate science and received hands-on training in MATLAB in the context of scientific computing. In phase 2, students then developed an original research project analyzing climate trends in New York City using National Weather Service data. This presentation describes the methodology, successes, and challenges of this training program, as well as tips for the running of similar programs. Extensive participant feedback, follow up, and outcomes are also presented.
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