Creating Opportunities for Workforce Activities Bringing Next Generation Achievers into STEM

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Educational Instrumentation project at Fullerton College, a 2-year HSI, will strengthen undergraduate learning in earth science. Specifically, this project will secure a breadth of equipment, including drones, weather stations, water column systems, bioreactors, and multi-parameter probes. These items will allow students to engage in hands-on learning experiences, become familiar with cutting-edge equipment, and build workforce skills by working with real-world data. Over 1,000 students and numerous faculty will utilize the project-funded equipment each year. In addition to providing improved experiences in earth science courses, the new equipment will also be used by students engaged in mentored research. The goals of this project are to enrich the learning and experiences of undergraduate students by providing critical equipment and instrumentation in earth science. Students will gain hands-on experience with modern platforms, sensors and tools, enriching their understanding of remote sensing technologies. This will allow for deeper learning of both theoretical and applied earth science topics, and will also allow students to build critical skills for jobs in the STEM workforce. The project will assess the impact of the project-funded equipment using pre- and post-course surveys, interviews, and focus groups. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and increase capacity to engage in the development and implementation of innovations to improve STEM teaching and learning at HSIs. 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.