Gulf of Maine and the World Ocean REUEfforts to Increase Minority Participation in the Ocean Sciences

David M. Fields, dfields@bigelow.org; Rebecca A. Fowler, rfowler@bigelow.orgBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Who’s Participated?• A total of 24 undergraduates were supported by the REU Program during the first 3 years; students came from 13 states and 21 colleges and universities around the country

• 33% of participants have been underrepresented minority students

• Minority participation has increased from 0% in 2009 to 50% in 2011, although we still struggle to attract Native American students

• Our cohorts are biased towards women; 63% of all participants have been female

•Program participants have ranged in age from 18 to 32 and include a mix of traditional and non-traditional students, community college students and a variety of STEM majors

2011 Bigelow Laboratory REU Cohort

Recruitment• Our goal is to engage students from all groups underrepresented in ocean sciences, including minorities, first generation college students, and those from rural and inland areas, such that our cohorts are between 30-50% underrepresented students

• We focus on recruiting Native Americans for our REU, as currently just 1-2 PhDs in ocean sciences are awarded to Native American students every DECADE

• Our recruitment plan has evolved and strengthened over the last 3 years, with help from our partner organizations, the Institute for Broadening Participation and the University of Maine’s Wabanaki Center

Fig 1: Minority Applicants, 2009-2011

• After our first two years, with few Native American applicants, we began to broaden our reach to connect with more national Native American serving organizations, to increase Native American participation

• These relationships take time to build, and while the overall number of applicants has increased, we still struggle to attract Native American applicants

Fig 2: Number of Applications Received, 2009-2011

2009 – 2011 Evaluation Results• Facilitating professional development opportunities for REU students during and after the program has resulted in 20 of the 24 students, including 7 minority students, taking advantage of these opportunities

Fig 4: Participation in Professional Development Opportunities

Impact on College/Career Choices• Of the 21 students surveyed, all said that participating in the program had a positive impact on their academic and career choices

• Students state the program confirms their desire to go to graduate school and has helped them decide what type of research they want to pursue

Long-Term Impacts•53% of participants are in their junior or senior year, so long-term tracking on college and career choices is limited

•47% of survey respondents have graduated, and of those all but one are working in a STEM field or are pursuing a graduate degree in a STEM field

Fig 3: Gender and Ethnic Diversity for Accepted Students

IntroductionBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, site of the Gulf of Maine and the World Ocean REU, provides undergraduates the opportunity to develop skills conducting independent scientific research in lower trophic level oceanography using state of the art methods and research technologies. Our goal is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing graduate degrees in ocean science, with an emphasis on engaging Native Americans. We work directly with minority-serving institutions and organizations to meet this goal. To date, 24 students have participated in the REU, with over 40% minority participation during the last two years. In August 2011, an external evaluator was hired to assess our first 3 years as an REU site; here we present an overview of our program and those evaluation results, focusing on the short and long-term impacts of the program on minority participants and their post-program academic and career paths. Effective strategies for recruiting and mentoring underrepresented students, as well as challenges faced in meeting our recruitment goals and lessons learned, will also be shared.

“Spending my summer immersed in science, the Bigelow REU program has confirmed my interest in becoming a researcher. This program has given me the motivation to further my academic career and go to graduate school for my PhD.”