T101 Beyond the Numbers: Strategies for Inclusive Education Practices across the Geological Sciences (Posters)

Monday, 5 November 2018
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Halls J-K

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND FIRST NATIONS

Paper number: T101-12
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Collaborations with people from different cultures with unique perspectives, including indigenous scientists, enriches science by drawing on different academic training and varied personal experiences, allowing us to view our research through a new lens. Environmental Justice and First Nations is a student-led program that provides an opportunity to for collaboration between UCLA’s Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, Central High School run by United American Indian Involvement, Inc. in Los Angeles, and Navajo Technical University. This outreach program presents the opportunity to work with a passionate group of students with scientific and technical expertise from different backgrounds.

Outreach to Central High discusses environmental justice issues facing many indigenous communities including fracking, oil spills and clean up, air quality’s unequal effect on different populations, contaminated soils and real-world water purification systems, and ocean acidification. Indigenous activists are also highlighted. The program highlights the importance and impact of science and research, and expose students to different career paths. High school students also have the opportunity to visit UCLA and learn about the diverse paths into STEM many of us have had.

A partnership between Navajo Technical University and UCLA presents the opportunity to work with a passionate group of students with scientific and technical expertise from many different scientific backgrounds. Students will gain hands-on experience with research both in the field and in the lab. This partnership was established with the idea that both institutions could provide unique perspectives and give rise to a much richer collaboration. We are also partnering for fieldwork in the Southwest to examine past local impacts of climate change.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 50, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2018AM-325104

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