EXPLORING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' PATHWAYS IN EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE PROGRAMS AT A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION

In the geoscience education research (GER) space, over a decade of research has been conducted on issues involving diversity, equity, and inclusion. The diverse perspectives and values that emerge from equitable and inclusive environments are often associated with innovative solutions; yet, the geosciences remain the least diverse of all STEM disciplines. Recently, those in the GER community have suggested minority-serving institutions (MSIs) may be a means to broaden participation by modelling support for students with diverse identities who are pursuing careers in geoscience. Therefore, this quantitative case study identified undergraduate students’ trajectories to explore this possibility. The students were enrolled in the Department of Earth & Environment at Florida International University (FIU), a major hispanic-serving institution (HSI) located in Miami, FL. The Department of Earth and Environment offers degree programs across the spectrum of Earth Systems Science (ESS), from sustainability studies to atmospheric science. Institutional data was used to group student enrollment patterns into various modalities. These modalities were assembled according to established pipeline and pathway participation paradigms, which incorporate entry, exit, and enrollment patterns. Additional institutional data on students’ demographics (gender and ethnicity), history (international status, first generation, and transfer credits), and experience (FIU GPA, graduation status, and total credits earned toward degree) were used in binomial/multinomial logistic regression as independent variables to determine their potential predictive power on the students’ participation paradigms. Results indicate both that major changes occur most frequently at the beginning of students’ trajectories and that by the end of their undergraduate career, a majority were grouped in the pathway participation paradigm. This study suggests HSIs may be able to help broaden participation in geoscience by modeling support for students who follow various pathways. This investigation represents the first step in understanding the modes in which hispanic students participate along the terrain of ESS education.