The AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project is supported through NSF OEDG Grant Number 1107968.

Development for this course was supported, in part, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NSF - AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project -
Promoting Diversity on a Changing Planet

Including Faculty Professional Development Workshops:

AMS Climate Studies Course Implementation Workshop
Washington, DC
19-24 May 2013

and

94^th AMS Annual Meeting
Atlanta, GA
1-4 February 2014

* The AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project is for eligible institutions using the complete course package.

* Click here for the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project License Order Form & Application

Jump to...
*The Challenge We Face
*An Invitation to Join the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project
*Accepting Our Invitation
*Diversity Project Course Goals
*Course Implementation Workshop
*AMS Annual Meeting Workshop
*For More Information

The Challenge We Face
Our nation faces a serious challenge in attracting young people to science and science-related careers (including teaching). This is particularly true for members of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and is especially acute in the small number of minority college students majoring in the geosciences.

A formidable obstacle in attracting under-served students to the geosciences has been limited opportunity to enroll in introductory-level geoscience courses. To help address this problem, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) is making available an introductory climate science course, AMS Climate Studies, which can be added as a general education course. This highly innovative course has been implemented at more than 75 institutions nationwide since fall 2010, including 28 minorityserving institutions that joined the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project during the 2011-12 academic year. This project is modeled after the highly successful NSF-funded AMS Weather Studies (2002-07) and AMS Ocean Studies (2006-08) Geosciences Diversity/National Dissemination Projects, which introduced introductory-level meteorology and oceanography to over 170 minority-serving institutions and over 18,000 students.

The AMS encourages course adoption by institutions serving large numbers of minority students through support from the NSF Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences. The AMS Education Program has partnered with Second Nature, a national non-profit organization that works with college and university administrators to accelerate the movement toward a sustainable society. Together, the AMS and Second Nature uphold the importance of basic climate science education. Through this partnership, the AMS Climate Studies course will help American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) signatories implement the curriculum component of their Climate Action Plans.

An Invitation to Join the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project
The AMS, in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), invites minority-serving institutions to join in providing student access to geosciences courses by implementing AMS Climate Studies.

For the purposes of this AMS Diversity Project, eligible colleges and universities include those listed by the U.S. Department of Education as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian (AN/NH) Serving Institutions. Also eligible are other accredited post-secondary institutions that can document a minority enrollment of at least 25% of their total student population. Minority students are defined as members of African American, Hispanic American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander groups.

To encourage institutional participation, the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project offers the following:

• Attendance by course instructor at a five-day course implementation workshop in Washington, DC. Travel, room, board, and instructional costs are covered, and a $300 stipend is provided.

• Attendance by course instructor at the subsequent AMS Annual Meeting. Some fees, travel, and lodging are covered.

• Course implementation assistance by AMS program staff and instructors teaching in similar academic environments.

• Waived license fee for offering the climate course (normally $149 per year) for the first two years.

Details concerning the AMS Climate Studies course are available at:
http://www.ametsoc.org/climatestudies

Accepting Our Invitation
Institutions meeting the program's eligibility requirements can accept our invitation by submitting the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project License Order Form and Application, signed by an authorized institutional representative. This commits the institution to offering the course for at least one semester.

Submissions may be made by mailing or faxing this form to the AMS Climate Studies Diversity Program.

Implementation Workshop participation is on a first-come, first-serve basis as determined by the date-of-receipt of the License Order Form. Institutions which have participated in other AMS Geosciences Diversity/National Dissemination Projects are eligible to apply for this program upon successful implementation of another AMS course. To grow AMS Diversity Programs to their fullest extent, institutions are encouraged to nominate course instructors who did not previously attend Diversity Project workshops. Until three months before the workshop, two-thirds of the workshop positions will be reserved for institutions new to AMS Diversity Projects.

Diversity Project Course Goals
The Implementation Workshop is designed for faculty members who already teach Earth science, and those with little or no prior teaching experience in the atmosphere, ocean, or climate sciences. The workshop will cover selected topics in climate science, pedagogy, and course implementation and management in a collegial community impacted by diversity issues. Participants are provided with all course materials to teach AMS Climate Studies and will demonstrate:

• The ability to interpret and analyze climate data acquired through direct observations and remote sensing.

• An understanding of climate from a dynamic, Earth system perspective.

• Understanding of the course delivery system and a variety of implementation strategies.

Subsequent to the Implementation Workshop, participants will:

• Interact with a community to share best-practice teaching strategies related to their offering of AMS Climate Studies

• Participate in a network connecting students with professional scientists, including opportunities for internships, research, and careers counseling.

• Present a poster at the Education Symposium at the AMS Annual Meeting.

Course Implementation Workshop
The five day workshop will be held in Washington, DC. It will cover essential course topics in climate science and global climate change, and strategies for course implementation. Talks will feature climate science and sustainability experts from Federal agencies and area research institutions, such as NASA, NOAA, University of Maryland, Howard University, George Mason University, and other DC-area institutions. The workshop will also include visits to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

Washington DC participants will receive:

• Stipend of $300.

• Single hotel room for 5 nights at no cost.

• Meal allowance.

• Air travel (or equivalent for land travel) for one round trip between home and Washington, DC.

• All workshop instructional supplies.

Participants will be housed in hotel facilities as arranged by the AMS. The workshop is intensive and informal interaction among participants is an integral component of the program. Participants will be encouraged to attend without families if their presence is likely to detract from full participation. Participants are responsible for all expenses arising from the presence of accompanying persons.

The major outcomes of this project will be a large network of faculty trained as change agents in their institutions, sustained offering of AMS undergraduate courses within MSIs, and the introduction of thousands of MSI students to the geosciences. Course materials were produced with funding from NASA.

AMS Annual Meeting Workshop
Participating faculty members who successfully implement AMS Climate Studies at their institutions will be invited to the 2014 AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia to present a poster or paper describing their implementation experience, participate in a three-day workshop that focuses on diversity and other issues related to the course, and attend
the meeting’s extensive scientific sessions and exhibits. The meeting workshop will run from February 1-4, 2014.

For More Information

For questions about the AMS Climate Studies course or faculty workshops, please contact:

Elizabeth Mills, Associate Director
Education Program
American Meteorological Society
1200 New York Ave NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-737-1043
Fax: 202-737-0445
E-mail: mills@ametsoc.org

For information about the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment and integrating this course with your institutional Climate Action Plan, please contact:

Ashka Naik, LEED AP BD+C
Director of Strategic Initiatives and Development
Second Nature, Inc.
18 Tremont Street, Suite 308
Boston, MA 02108

Phone: 617-722-0036 Ext-209
E-mail: anaik@secondnature.org
www.secondnature.org
www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org
www.campusgreenbuilder.org

Updated:
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