Dr. Corey Garza is committed to increasing diversity in the geosciences.

He was one of 30 participants invited by the National Science Foundation to attend the GEO GOLD – Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity – workshop March 20-24 in Annapolis, Md.

The event is part of an effort by the NSF to develop and implement new programs to increase diversity in the geosciences – ocean science, geology, atmospheric science and related disciplines. These disciplines lag other STEM fields in student diversity and the total number of students who pursue degrees in them. The goal of the workshop is to design and test a professional development curriculum to train geoscientists to be “champions” of diversity. The program will also train a new generation of faculty level geoscientists who are experts in engaging and bringing diverse student groups into the disciplines. The workshop participants will be asked to submit three to five proposals to be funded by the NSF. Those grant proposals must be submitted by June 2. “These projects have the potential to put our campus and marine science program in the middle of a nationally coordinated effort to initiate long-term increases in student and faculty diversity in the geosciences,” Dr. Garza said.

Published March 23, 2016