GETTING STUDENTS IN THE FIELD: COOPERATION BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND UNIVERSITY FACULTY TO BUILD RESEARCH NETWORKS THAT ENHANCE RECRUITMENT SUCCESS

Getting high school students in the field working on real problems enhances the probability that they will select geoscience as a major and a career. Using support from the NSF GEOPAths program, students from Owasso High School visited several field areas including the Tar Creek Superfund Site and implemented research projects that increased their enthusiasm for science in general, and especially geoscience. Students collected water and soil samples contaminated with metals including lead, zinc and cadmium from Tar Creek at four principal sites: (1) upstream from the mining district, (2) in the center of the district near Picher, Oklahoma, (3) immediately downstream from mining district near Commerce, OK and (4) 9.4 km (6 miles) downstream in Miami, OK. They also collected samples from 6 areas around the Verdigris River system at the Port of Catoosa, OK: (1) Highway 266, (2a,b) A Nitrogen Processing Plant effluent pipe, (3) Up river before the Port of Catoosa entrance, (4) In the Port of Catoosa, (5) upstream of Bird Creek where it flows into Verdigris River, (6) And down the Verdigris river at Highway 66. They analyzed citizen science water samples from the Arkansas River in Tulsa, OK and collected at The Tall Grass Prairie Reserve in Pawhuska, OK. In addition to gathering data in the field, samples were sent to Oklahoma State University (OSU) to be analyzed as part of the Water Research Assessment and Networking Ecosystem (WRANE), a NSF funded project. In 2023, students collected soil samples at 5 m intervals along transects that extended 30 m east and west from the center of Tar Creek at each of the four sites. Students travelled to OSU labs to analyze samples and presented results at the 2023 South-Central GSA Meeting. Students travelled to OSU in fall 2023 to prepare soil samples for analysis using x-ray fluorescence. Two students who presented their research results at the 2023 GSA meeting intend to enroll at OSU in fall 2024 and pursue environmental geology.