TRANSFORMING GEOSCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: CHANGING THE CULTURE AND WIDENING THE PATHWAYS (Invited Presentation)

Diversity is important in academia for reasons of social justice. There are also tangible benefits for the academy because it brings new perspectives and approaches that lead to major advances in research and education. Notably, although the demographics of the US have changed substantially over the past 60 years, and some STEM fields have become much more diverse, geoscience and environmental science have not kept up. In fact, the geosciences have some of the worst rates of diversity of all STEM fields. There also are poor rates of retention at every educational and career stage. The demographic data signifies the loss of intellectual “capital” – bright people whose skills and perspectives are needed for innovation in industry, policy, research, and education.

At the same time, we are at a watershed moment because of the demographic shifts that are occurring and the growing awareness of the scale of these issues and the need to change. But the use of the same practices will result in the same outcomes. Specifically, it is clear that negative consequences will arise if we continue to recruit people into institutions where they are isolated and/or encounter leaders and peers who are unequipped to be agents of change. They include continuing low rates of recruitment and retention, the unintentional fostering of an unwelcoming climate to diversity and inclusion, and reduced productivity.

Therefore, to cultivate increased diversity in the geosciences and environmental sciences, we are developing a program to recruit and support more diverse students, and connect them with better-trained faculty. Our goals are to 1) build cultural awareness skills, 2) support transformation of individuals as agents of change while mentoring and networking them, 3) help build a STEM culture of inclusion and outreach, and 4) ultimately improve diversity and retention rates. In order to achieve our goals, we are developing an innovative and inter-connected integration of elements that leverages existing resources, framing, incentivizing, and targeting them to reach people who would likely otherwise not access them. This will allow us to increase and support a diverse pool of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, while training the faculty they interact with to be more inclusive and effective teachers and mentors.