STEMSEAS: A Vehicle for Broadening Participation in the Emerging STEM Ecosystem

The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) Project leverages unused capacity during non-operational transits of ships in the U.S. academic fleet to provide undergraduate students with transformative experiences. Since 2016 we have sailed >100 students on six vessels operated by the University National Oceanographic Laboratories System (UNOLS). In this time STEMSEAS has become significantly connected to existing STEM programs and assets in ways that highlight the power of occupying a STEM ecosystem "node" dedicated to: (1) creating synergies; (2) broadening participation; and (3) growing the STEM ecosystem. Synergies have come by doing added-value science wherever possible during STEMSEAS transits. This has taken the form of coring, CTD casts, water sampling, gene sequencing, beta testing of new technology and running swath bathymetry tools. Broadening participation, a cornerstone of the program, has been possible through sincere connections with universities that serve underrepresented minority (URM) communities. The project has robust connections to Savannah State University, an HBCU with a strong Marine Science program, and we are committed to developing strong relationships with additional campuses. The program's function in the STEM ecosystem has become clear through a growing list of program and PI interactions. Principal investigators utilizing UNOLS ships have reached out to STEMSEAS in search of undergraduate students to contribute to seagoing research when berths have become available. Three STEMSEAS alumni recently sailed on the R/V Atlantis during Alvin operations. In connecting the students to this opportunity, the degree to which their lives had been impacted by STEMSEAS was very clear. This was not surprising based on post-transit surveys that suggest for most students STEMSEAS is profoundly, positively disruptive. In serving this role, STEMSEAS has started to operate, among a number of collaborative functions, as a clearinghouse for researchers to locate available and qualified undergraduate students to assist with projects, often on short notice, and a means to collect oceanographic data in under-sampled regions.