ADVANCING DIVERSITY THROUGH JUSTICE-CENTERED APPROACHES TO GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (Invited Presentation)

Geoscience education and culture have historically placed a strong emphasis on outdoor field experiences and career opportunities in industries such as oil, gas, and mining. Neither of these factors typically attract students from historically marginalized groups, though, who often have limited outdoor experience and are more motivated to pursue careers that help their communities and society at large (Carter et al., 2021). Geoscientists have a critical role to play in addressing climate and global environmental change, which are already disproportionately impacting marginalized communities, yet this aspect of geoscience is seldom highlighted in outreach and education efforts. To address this, we have established the UCI CLIMATE Justice Initiative, which aims to transform the culture of the geosciences through training geoscience students in cross-disciplinary, community-engaged research approaches that address environmental justice, center community-needs, and respect multiple forms of knowledge. Program activities center on training diverse cohorts of postbaccalaureate and PhD student fellows in climate science, community-engaged research, and environmental justice. Through culturally aware mentorship and authentic community-engaged research experiences, we aim to help our trainees build scientific identities and a sense of belonging, increasing the diversity of people entering geoscience and policy careers within and outside academia.

References

Carter, S.C., Griffith, E.M., Jorgensen, T.A. et al. Highlighting altruism in geoscience careers aligns with diverse US student ideals better than emphasizing working outdoors. Commun Earth Environ 2, 213 (2021).