16 Geoscience in the Two-Year-College (2YC) Community: Sharing Successes, Growing Pains, and Lessons Learned

Tuesday, 12 May 2020
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Plaza Room

OUTCOMES OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR UNDERGRADUATES: IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENT CAREER PREPARATION, TECHNICAL SKILL BUILDING, AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING AT 2YCS

Paper number: 16-12
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 5:05 PM – 5:25 PM

Authors

Abstract

ESTEM (Environmental Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), an NSF-GEOPATHS field and career preparation program for undergraduates at 2-year (2YC) and 4-year (4YC) institutions with an interest in environmental careers, hosted approximately 40 students during the 2017 and 2018 field seasons. During the program, students from 4YCs College of the Atlantic (COA) and University of San Francisco (USF) and 2YC Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) completed geology, geomorphology, hydrology, ecology, and interdisciplinary environmental field projects in the Sierra Nevadas and Owens Valley, CA and interacted with local environmental professionals ("stakeholders") from the National Park Service, USGS, Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory, and Mammoth Community Water District. After the field program, students had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities at their home institutions related to STEM careers.

This presentation will address the nature, duration, and impacts of student-stakeholder interaction; the varied approaches to career activities that were implemented at each institution; and changes in students' field skills, awareness of and interest in environmental careers, and professional networks over the course of participating in ESTEM. We will also report on several ESTEM alumni from Mt. SAC and discuss self-reported impacts of ESTEM on their academic and/or career trajectories.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 52, No. 4

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020CD-347589

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