Session Title: EP03: Mitigating Barriers and Re-imagining Geosciences to Operationalize the Full Capacity of US STEM Academic Programs and The Workforce
Section: Education & Policy (Submitters can submit a second abstract to an Education & Policy session at no additional cost)

Co-Conveners:

Catalina Martinez, Equity Advisor, NOAA Ocean Exploration

Brandon Jones, Program Director for Education & Broadening Participation in the Geosciences Directorate, NSF

 

Session Description:

Diversity in ocean sciences lags far behind U.S. demographics. A substantial body of research highlights barriers that limit the participation and success of students and scholars from underrepresented minoritized and other marginalized groups in STEM disciplines, and a wealth of studies highlight successful interventions that improve the persistence of these diverse groups in STEM higher education. Despite this knowledge, over the past four decades, geosciences have made limited progress in fostering diversity within their academic programs and workforce, suggesting persistent and pervasive challenges must be addressed and new mitigation strategies are needed.

 

To this end, The Oceanography Society (TOS) recently published their first ever special issue on Building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the Ocean Sciences, compiling the collective experiences and knowledge of the ocean science community into an open-access volume to serve as a resource for advancing DEI in our institutions, organizations, and programs; to inspire people and institutions to earnestly review practices and commit to meaningful positive changes; and to encourage diverse scholars to become and remain geoscience professionals. Understanding the need to find new ways to address these challenges, NOAA, NSF, ONR, and NASA partnered with TOS to fund and develop this special issue as one additional step in the right direction.

 

This session will bring together diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice (DEIAJ) champions and professionals in the ASLO community to build upon the TOS DEI special issue and expand discussions about specific challenges, solutions, and opportunities for diverse scholars in geosciences. Topics can include, but are not limited to the need to address the disproportionate potential dangers associated with fieldwork, shipboard experiences, and remote laboratory environments for individuals not from the dominant culture; the need to address specific financial barriers to expensive field gear and required travel; opportunities to mitigate inherent inequities built into application requirements and selection criteria for high value research internships, fellowships, jobs, and graduate programs; the essential need for diverse representation in role models, staff, faculty, and mentors; the socio-emotional supports required to navigate microaggressions and the pressure to conform and assimilate; and the need to develop opportunities for remote participation in research experiences and internships for participants who cannot or choose not to leave their communities and/or families. We urge participants to share innovative and novel approaches to mitigating these, and other challenges and barriers, build in considerations for the socio-emotional and financial supports necessary to successfully diversify programs and the workforce, and discuss effective ways to implement these practices within institutions and agencies not initially designed with these issues in mind.