Saturday, January 11, 2014
Working Group 13
Breakout session 2: Diversity in Geosciences (Topics 1 to 3)
Topic 1: Challenges to develop a diverse geosciences workforce
 Data indicates the 2YC students are from underrepresented groups
o Diverse individuals are generally introduced to geosciences in 2YC
 How to maintain and retain this diversity in 4YC
 Define transfer problems
 URECAS – 2YC student virtual posters at AGU
 This is going to every year and involve 2 and 4 year
colleges
 Defining minority or non-traditional students
o Race, gender, disability, 1st generation students, veterans, older
students, First Nations people
 Barriers to non-traditional students
o Lack of role models early in life
 Have individuals of particular expertise visit K-12
 Respecting cultural traditions
 Lack of family members/friends who have a geosciences career
 Need to reach students at a very early age
 Need for critical mass of students to encourage involvement
o Cultural conflicts
 Need to be resolved in a
o Family influence
 Believe that geology is not a ‘good’ career
o Lack of resources at minority colleges
o Lack of political influence of institutions
o Limited resources to reach children at a young age
 Need to engage students in an active way
 Development of formative experiences
o Religious barriers
o Stereotype threat
 The role of mentioning stereotypes on an individual’s
performance
 How to mitigate barriers
o Differences in experiences and visions is directly related to culture and
need to be recognized
 There needs to be recognition of the difficulty of having ‘solo
status’
 Recognizing that small educational programs may have more
benefit than larger programs at reaching though there the
larger programs are likely to receive more resources.

Smaller educational programs may reach people not
reached by larger programs
o The need for a cultural connection
 How to communicate to different cultural groups in a
respectful way
 But also how to introduce students to the larger whole of
geosciences
 Having a professional ‘home’ within a larger community
o The need for minority organizations to visibly participate at larger
meetings
 Mainstream geoscience organizations should have a presence
at minority specific meetings
Why should we encourage minority and non-traditional students to participate in the
geosciences?
 When minorities are underrepresented in STEM fields, then Americans are
underrepresented in STEM fields.
 Cultural worldviews matter. Diverse worldviews contribute to the field of
geosciences.