Geological Society of America

T219 Incorporating Identities to Advance Diversity throughout Geoscience Disciplines III

Thursday, 29 October 2020
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Meeting Rooms

INITIATION OF A DIVERSE MULTI-CAMPUS NETWORK TO UNDERSTAND CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEM CHANGE

Paper number: T219-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:50 PM – 2:05 PM

Authors

Aradhna Tripati Presenting Author
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Amina Traore Schartup
University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
Rae Spriggs
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Kathleen Johnson
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA
Sarah M. Aarons
University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
Lihini Aluwihare
University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
Asmeret Berhe
University of California, Merced Life and Environmental Sciences, Merced, CA
Sylvia Hurtado
Los Angeles, CA
Sora Kim
University of California, Merced, Merced, CA
Isabel Montanez
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Ana Christina Ravelo
UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Abstract

Climate change disproportionately affects low-income communities of color, who are poorly represented in the geosciences and environmental fields. This same demographic is bearing much of the burden of COVID-19 and the associated financial crisis. At the same time, climate change impacts are profound and complex, giving rise to uncertain consequences for water resources, ecosystems, and infrastructure. This reflects the sensitivity of different regions to a range of atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial processes, and their poorly constrained responses to changing climate forcing. This combination of issues forms a serious crisis in social justice, contributes to rising inequality, and stifles the creativity and innovation needed in our environmental and climate workforce to solve societally relevant problems. It is critical for our future to develop leaders who can address the lack of diversity in the geosciences. To address these challenges, we are developing a unique mentoring network composed of women of color geoscience faculty, and graduate and undergraduate student leadership fellows. Our training and mentoring program is designed to diversify the geosciences and environmental sciences, the least diverse of the STEM fields. Fellows will build community within and across each campus, be leadership facilitators with their peers, and engage in collaborative research and outreach activities. The network leadership team will comprise close to a dozen women of color geoscience faculty who are themselves from diverse backgrounds and have expertise in paleoclimatology, oceanography, soil and environmental science, sedimentary geology, geochemistry, and STEM education. We assert that participation in the mentoring network will forge a shared identity and foster relationship building and collaboration, contribute to the development of science identity and belonging for the student participants, and support leadership development and retention.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 52, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-359853

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