BACK-TO-BACK WINNERS OF GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (NSF) FROM A HBCU: IMPACTS OF MENTORING SUCCESS FOR BLACK STUDENTS PURSUING GEOSCIENCES

Purpose of NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the US STEM workforce and seeks to broaden participation of underrepresented groups. The 5-year fellowship provides 3-years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000. Over a budget of $5 billion, the NSF is key funder for research at the graduate level. About 2,000 GRFP fellowships are awarded each year of which only 10% are in geosciences. Winner of GRFPs from HBCUs are as low as 0.3%! Most HBCU students are first generation college students with little to no financial support from their families. These students have no access to knowledge about how to fund their graduate education. Fort Valley State University (FVSU) is a rural HBCU in middle Georgia, where regional challenges caused by poverty and inequity contribute to minimal production of STEM graduates from the local communities. Regardless of the geographic setting FVSU has been very successful in developing a geoscience program through which it has till date graduated 51 mostly black geoscientists through its partnering universities. For these graduates the lone geoscience professor at FVSU has served as one of their mentors. The earlier graduates of the program today are well established in their careers and have serve as mentors for the younger students. Since Covid-19 pandemic it has become even more critical for FVSU students to seek scholarships for graduate school. In two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) two graduates of FVSU earned the GRFP with their FVSU mentor sharing with them from an early stage of their undergraduate years how to apply for and fund their graduate studies. The letters of recommendation which are a vital part of the application process, at least one must be written by the undergraduate mentor who can illustrate how the student has been recruited into geo, trained, and now are committed to a graduate program. To get the students ready for GRFP, the mentor carefully designed multiple internships for the students, advised the students throughout their matriculation, connected them with peer and industrial mentors who the students were mostly introduced by participating annually at the NABG conference. The mentor became a central figure who the student could trust and rely on for guidance, and a bonding that lasts beyond the confines of the undergraduate institution..