REVERSING THE ENROLLMENT TREND: GEOPATHS EXTRA: GEOSCIENCE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES & CAREER ORIENTED RESEARCH EXPERIENCES

Geoscience Educational Opportunities & Career Oriented Research Experiences (GEO CORE) is an NSF-sponsored collaboration between Suffolk County Community College, Stony Brook University, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Division that utilizes a pipeline approach to reverse enrollment trends and provide pathways for students from high school to college and into geoscience careers.

The goals of this program are to 1) increase diversity and enrollment within geoscience programs, 2) increase student success and retention in geoscience courses, and 3) provide pathways to four-year institutions and regional career opportunities. In order to achieve these goals we have established the GEO CORE Summer Institute, the GEO CORE Ambassador program, and a series of career-oriented research experiences for students and faculty.

The GEO CORE Summer Institute is a three-week program where participants work with program staff and scientists from cooperating agencies to study firsthand the environmental issues being addressed by geologists, marine scientists, and atmospheric scientists across Long Island. During each week of the program, participants visit specific field sites where they meet with professional scientists and learn correct observational and sampling techniques and explore how human activity affects our local environment.

The GEO CORE Ambassador program is a faculty/peer mentoring program. Each year nine geoscience students are selected to serve as GEO CORE Ambassadors. Ambassadors receive monthly skills training and serve as peer mentors within geoscience classrooms, where they serve as tutors working directly with students in laboratory settings.

Career-Oriented Research Experiences are full-day workshops where student participants work with program staff and partners to learn sample and data acquisition, data analysis, and data visualization while working on contemporary issues that affect our local communities. This program is designed to provide Ambassadors and other participating students with the skills and knowledge to make them competitive in entry-level geoscience positions and as transfer students at four-year colleges and universities.