Breakout Summary Report

ARM/ASR User and PI Meeting

Breakout Description

The User Executive Commitee (UEC) is an independent body charged with providing objective, timely advice and recommendations to the leadership of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility with respect to the user experience. The UEC has an opportunity to engage annually with the ARM and ASR communities at the Science Team meeting. This year, the UEC invites the community to engage with us on "Undergraduate Engagement with a Focus on Diversity." At this breakout session, we will ask our community: How can we provide more opportunities for undergraduate students, especially from underrepresented groups, to engage with the ARM facility and related research activities? How do we welcome and engage a more diverse group of researchers and their students? The session will also include the opportunity to ask questions about other UEC activities and provide ARM management feedback on other topics of interest.

Main Discussion

Our lunchtime discussion centered around the topic of diversity of undergraduates within the ARM and ASR programs, a focus of an ARM UEC sub-group. We had five speakers, with questions asked throughout. The session conveners invited the speakers: no one volunteered independently. The goal of the breakout session was to introduce the UEC and to invite discussion of the keynote address of Dr. Solomon Bililign entitled “Increasing diversity in geosciences -- What we are doing wrong and what is working.”
● Jen Delamere (UEC chair): General overview of UEC
● Shaima Nasiri (ASR Program Manager): General overview of approach within DOE to diversity in undergraduate education
● Olga Mayol-Bracero (Brookhaven National Laboratory): DOE Lab Perspective
● Osi Ajoku (Howard University Assistant Professor, UEC Subgroup Chair): Academic Perspective
● Mike Jensen (Cloud Processes Group Leader, Brookhaven National Laboratory): DOE Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) Internship Programs Diversity is a two-way process. Students and researchers from under-represented groups can benefit from access to facilities and experience from hosts while hosts gain new perspectives and enthusiastic team members contribute to research activities.
Opportunities for students and researchers interested in ARM science topics (and other diverse topics) through DOE WDTS internship programs at the national laboratories. Opportunity to connect with DOE laboratory scientists and actively participate in research projects. Students pursuing these internships benefit from reaching out directly to lab scientists with whom they may want to intern.

Key Findings

We ended our sessions with “questions” to consider as well as findings
● Dr. Mayol-Bracero’s presentation highlighted the effectiveness of having mentors and students together in the field through the DOE RENEW workshop. She noted the mutual benefit to both groups. Her experience is consistent with the message that Dr. Bililign delivered.
● Participants noted that engagement takes a lot of time to be effective. And, the best outcomes are when mentors take the time to engage with the undergraduate about their whole selves (not just the academic component of a student’s life).
● When is the best time to engage an undergraduate? Freshman year, sophomore year?
● Salary has to be high enough to keep students working within the sciences (as opposed to taking outside employment in retail, etc.)
● Should financial compensation be in the form of a paycheck OR towards tuition for academic scholarship?
● Can a pathway to employment with a bachelor’s degree be created for those that finish internships as undergrads?

Issues

Lunchtime session was not well attended. This was unfortunate, as those of us that were present had a great discussion about a wide range of topics. To note, this was the first time that I am aware that the UEC associated a particular topic with a UEC breakout session. Our hope had been to draw more from the community to the session with a specific agenda. More participants did filter in towards the end, indicating that science team members wanted to have lunch independent of the meeting (and perhaps the opportunity to meet with colleagues in small groups).

Needs

None identified.

Decisions

None.

Future Plans

● Continued plenary session speaker for DEI at ASR/ARM PI meeting. Make sure to vary the focus of the talk from year to year.
● Continue the UEC subgroup

Action Items

● UEC/ARM publish a list of ARM/ASR scientists at DOE national laboratories who are interested in hosting undergraduate interns.
● Review Dr. Bililign’s slide presentation on “Lessons” at the end of slide presentation. How might these lessons be applied within the ARM and ASR community?