Ameliorating Geoscience Inequities Via a Robust Combination of Geoscience Industry Partnerships and Community Service Learning

Abstract:

Reginald Blake¹, Janet Liou-Mark¹, Hamidreza Norouzi¹, Julia Rivera¹, and Marlon Rice²

¹New York City College of Technology, CUNY

²Magnolia Tree Earth Center

ABSTRACT

Long-standing legacies and vexing issues of injustice, inequities, and paucity in diversity and inclusion have been an albatross around the necks of the marginalized in the society for too long. These suffocating impediments are symptomatic of the racial disparities that continue to undergird bias, prejudice, and racism among us. These issues and their impacts are ubiquitous, and they are alive and well within the hallowed halls of STEM in general, and in the geosciences in particular. The geosciences remain one of STEM’s least diverse fields. Recent studies show that almost 90% of Ph.D.’s in the geosciences are awarded to Caucasians, and that diversity and inclusion in the doctoral ranks of the geosciences have continued on their unprogressive, negative track for the past forty-years. Since there is a direct correlation between diversity and a sense of belonging, few minority students are inclined to pursue the geosciences. This in-turn reinforces the mindset of racial dominance of some and minority exclusion of others that pervade the geosciences.

To ameliorate these ills and to help in redressing these geoscience inequities, a year-round undergraduate geoscience program for non-geoscience, first-generation, minority STEM majors was created and implemented at the New York City College of Technology. The program tapped into a cohort of students who have traditionally been excluded from participating in the geosciences for one reason or another. Over a three-year period 35 undergraduates, participated in a structured geoscience program that consisted of geoscience – Exposure, Preparation, Apprenticeship, and Experience (EPA-E). The students were supported with cohort-building activities, and they participated in two geoscience internship programs. Results from the EPA-E program showed statistically significant increases in the undergraduates’ knowledge of the geosciences, in their interest, preparation, and confidence in pursuing careers in the geosciences, in their likelihood to apply for jobs in the geosciences, and in their interest in applying to graduate school in the geosciences.