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Paper No. 34-7
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-5:30 PM
THE APPROACH AND SUCCESS OF THE GEOFORCE PROGRAM AT THE JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES FOR CLOSING THE DIVERSITY GAP IN GEOSCIENCES
GeoFORCE Texas is a collective impact initiative with the mission of increasing the number of students pursuing Science, Techology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) degrees in college, with an emphasis on degrees leading to careers in the geosciences. GeoFORCE provides mentoring for the students in field courses, corporations, government agencies, and university laboratories. A collective impact is described as “the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.” The social problem is a projected dwindling geoscience workforce unprepared for an estimated 50 percent reduction in the next decade, as geoscientists are playing an increasing role in addressing global challenges such as clean affordable energy and water, preparedness for natural disasters, and imbalances in earth’s interdependent interacting subsystems. All of the actors have the common agenda of assuring a diverse geoscience workforce. GeoFORCE alum of the high school program are enrolled in 74 different colleges in 20 states. In Fall of 2014, 62% of alum of GeoFORCE were declared STEM majors, including 95 geoscience majors and 67 engineers. Corporations, foundations, targeted independent school districts, state and federal government agencies, and the Jackson School of Geosciences are the important actors in GeoFORCE, with representatives from each of these organizations providing mentoring for GeoFORCE students. After ten summers of weeklong field experiences, GeoFORCE Texas has engaged over 1,550 high school students with mentors in the geosciences. As of 2014, GeoFORCE Texas has graduated 618 students from the four-year program. In 2014, 80% of the high school participants were minorities. The success of GeoFORCE’s mentoring efforts was recognized by the White House this year with the awarding of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.