Bridging the Gap between Minority Serving Institutions and the Federal Workforce - A Model from the NOAA Cooperative Institutes and Cooperative Science Centers

Minority serving institutions (MSIs) play a critical role in developing undergraduate students for the scientific workforce. By extending resources to underserved and neglected communities, MSIs promote equitable outcomes for science-minded students who might not otherwise have an opportunity to explore a scientific career. The success of MSI undergraduate programs, however, can potentially create barriers to developing successful postgraduate programs, as the most successful students are quickly selected by prominent research institutions, combined with continued inequitable funding for MSIs in general. As a way to enable continued success and extend collaborative partnerships between MSIs and research universities, a program developed at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University, partnering with the Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (CESSRST) at the City College of New York, sponsoring graduate students at MSIs to partner with academic faculty for a fully-funded masters program. Selected students remain at their MSIs, working with MSI faculty as advisors, and co-advised by CIRA and CESSRST faculty, funded by CIRA, and during their masters program, network with and engage in critical NOAA research programs. The program facilitates the development of successful postgraduate programs at partnering MSIs, fosters collaborative research between MSIs and NOAA Cooperative Institutes and Cooperative Science Centers, and prepares students from diverse, underserved backgrounds to work directly with NOAA researchers and succeed in the federal workforce, or continue in academia post-graduation. The presentation will show examples from two funded programs, detailing research progress for MSI students engaged in NOAA research at their MSIs, and will discuss lessons learned and best practices to continue and grow the program.