REU Site: Summer Opportunities in Agricultural Research & the Environment: Strategic Work in Applied Geoscience (SOARE: SWAG)

The geoscience field faces a unique challenge in STEM: a lack of visibility to minoritized and marginalized students in pre-college programs. The Summer Opportunities in Agricultural Research & the Environment through Strategic Work in Applied Geoscience (SOARE: SWAG) offers opportunities for a group of 10 sophomore and junior students to engage in applied geoscience research in faculty-led laboratories.

The 10-week summer program includes professional and career-oriented workshops, weekly lunch-and-learn sessions, and social activities (with graduate students) designed to build community and provide opportunities to explore geoscience topics of interest. Collaborative partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) will allow recruited students to participate in an applied research experience and geoscience learning ecosystem at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD).

The SOARE: SWAG summer research experience aims to take advantage of the breadth and depth of the geoscience field to provide future scientists with hands-on skills to advance their knowledge through meaningful engagement with their mentors, networking opportunities, and conversations about social justice, equity and inclusion in science.

The SOARE: SWAG REU site program will provide maximum impact through applied geoscience research projects conducted at UMD. The UMD REU program has three main objectives designed to provide experiential learning for a cohort of 10 students. The PIs will 1) recruit and retain minoritized, first generation, and women students enrolled in HBCUs and MSIs to participate as REU fellows in a mentored, hands-on research experience with trained faculty mentors, 2) pair the selected fellows with UMD faculty conducting research in applied geoscience-related topics that are of interest to the student, and 3) increase participants’ awareness and understanding of geoscience sub-disciplines, graduate programs, and career opportunities through strategically-designed career shuttles, workshops, and activities.

The proposed research experience will enhance the fellows’ technical skills and increase their expertise in geoscience fields. Through a mentoring network, fellows will receive strategically guided support as they matriculate through the summer program and subsequently into geoscience graduate programs and geoscience careers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.