NEW INITIATIVES TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN THE GEOSCIENCES THROUGH NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATION

Time Scavengers (TS) is a digital learning environment designed to increase science literacy around evolutionary theory, climate change, and general geoscience knowledge. Recently, our project community has developed several initiatives that center IDEA + J (inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and justice) to provide increased opportunities for participation in the geosciences for those who have been historically excluded. These include initiatives such as the Tilly Edinger Travel Grant (TETG), Virtual Internship Program for SciComm (VIP SciComm), and general web accessibility. The TETG was developed to increase accessibility to conferences for graduate students and avocational geoscientists from historically excluded identities. The TETG pays for conference registration costs up-front, thus eliminating the reimbursement structure that is limiting to many without financial security. To date, the TETG has funded 17 students and early career researchers from eight countries across the world. We hope to continue this program biannually. The VIP SciComm will have its inaugural iteration the summer of 2022, with four paid student interns that will be mentored by geology professionals that are connected to TS. The interns will learn different aspects of science communication, have weekly meetings with communication experts, and contribute to the TS blogs. The VIP SciComm will be an annual program facilitated by TS. The TS team is also working to make posts on our social media platforms and images on our website more accessible by ensuring we provide alternative text.This effort is immediate on our social media platforms and we are currently working through the backlog of images and figures on our website to include alternative text.