Towards NOAA-pipeline employment through meaningful research work: opportunities for atmospheric research for MSUs

As part of NOAA's 2015-2035 Education Strategic Plan, Strategy 4.C lists 'Establish and maintain partnerships with Minority Serving Institutions, professional associations, and other organizations to improve graduation rates of underrepresented students' as a key goal. As a NOAA Cooperative Institute, the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University is forwarding efforts to engage with MSUs directly, to recruit, train, and retain undergraduate students in meaningful research activities that lead to the knowledge set, research experience, and critically, human connections needed to increase the number of students from minority backgrounds entering the NOAA workforce. As part of CSU's long-standing Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, undergraduate researchers from across the nation spend ten weeks in a funded residential program, working directly with scientists at CSU on a meaningful research project, leading to a presentation and continued support post-program. CIRA has committed the resources to support five students per year, as well as funds for direct recruitment activities to encourage students who might otherwise overlook opportunities like the REU program. Partnering with NOAA's Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (CESSRST) at the City College of New York, CIRA was able to recruit three students from minority backgrounds for the REU program, with research fields to include ice flow monitoring, climate studies, and machine learning for cloud property research. Challenges and opportunities, including response to the global coronavirus pandemic and social and cultural issues related to residential programs, will be discussed. Opportunities to engage with the program in the future will also be presented.