URGE (Unlearning Racism in the GEosciences) @ CU Boulder GEOL

Lizzy participated in the CU Geological Sciences URGE pod in Spring 2021 and co-ran the first iteration of a follow-up URGE Seminar in Spring 2022. This seminar adapted the reading and discussion materials from the original URGE program and incorporated a project component enabling students to engage in and implement actions to improve our department climate. URGE Seminar will run for the second time in Fall 2023, led by Prof. Katie Snell (who also participated in the GEOL URGE pod in Spring 2021).

Personal Field Equipment Micro-Grant Program

Although field experiences (both in courses and via research experiences) can be powerful transformative learning experiences, they can also be exclusionary via several types of barriers to students from underrepresented groups and less privileged backgrounds. Starting in Fall 2022, Lizzy has been running and expanding a micro-grant program to students enrolled in GEOL field courses. This program allows students to apply for small grants that can cover necessary personal field equipment (e.g., hiking shoes, backpack, non-cotton socks, field notebook, hand lens). These items represent a hidden cost of field courses that create a significant barrier to some students.

Sand Library

Supported by a recently awarded NSF CAREER grant, we will be developing an inquiry-based educational platform to improve Earth science literacy across a range of educational levels inspired by the rich information that is stored in the characteristics of sand. In contrast with ooids, which are unfamiliar to almost everyone, sand is extremely familiar: even young students are likely to have interacted with sand at a beach, a river, a sand dune, in a playground, or even in a backyard sandbox. The Sand Library will harness this near-universal familiarity with sand to provide new pathways for students to engage with Earth science. 

Watch this space for more information as we begin working on this project in Fall 2023!