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GOLD GeoDES DGD Email Blast
Text for recruiting participants for the workshop
November 13 – 15, 2017

Dear Geoscience Community,

We are seeking volunteers to participate in a new study investigating diversity within academic leadership in the geosciences. The project, “Geoscience Diversity Experiential Simulations” (GeoDES) is a project funded by the National Science Foundation.
The goal of the GeoDES project is to train selected geoscientists as "champions for diversity" to challenge prejudices and prejudicial structures at their institutions so that our field can become a more diverse and welcoming environment for scientists of all backgrounds.  At our 3-day workshop participants will learn about prejudice and about how institutions are structured (particularly in geoscience departments) such that they continually reproduce inequitable conditions.  We are collaborating with Mursion, Inc. to develop an innovative, mixed-reality, virtual simulation to build participants’ skills to combat bias, prejudice, and prejudicial structures.  In the simulation, participants will interact with avatars in various situations that exhibit common prejudices in geoscience contexts.  These simulations give our participants practice for how to respond given different scenarios that commonly occur within our geoscience discipline, with the intention of building competency and confidence to combat these challenges when they occur in the workplace.

We are seeking 30 tenured faculty members, department heads or chairs, and geoscience department/college administrators to attend our workshop and participate in the follow-up activities. The 3-day workshop will take place from November 13 to November 15, 2017 at an NCAR facility in Boulder, CO.  Costs for selected participants will be covered by the NSF grant, which includes travel to Boulder, lodging, and meals. Follow-up activities include a monthly virtual “check in” where we will discuss how to apply what participants have learned at the 3-day workshop to their specific institution.

If you or your colleagues are interested in this professional development opportunity, and have any questions, please email Jason Chen, Principal Investigator, at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>  (The College of William & Mary). You can register for this opportunity at our website (https://cpaess.ucar.edu/meetings/2017/geodes-workshop).  Deadline to apply is October 30, 2017.



__________________________
Lina C. Patino, PhD
Division of Earth Sciences
National Science Foundation
Alexandria, VA

+1-703-292-5047