WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en-US 00:00:01.890 --> 00:00:04.878 [silence] 00:00:04.878 --> 00:00:09.440 - Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first Earthquake Science Center seminar 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:12.720 of the new year. We have a nice lineup of seminars 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.160 for you coming up in the upcoming few months. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.200 As a reminder, as we begin, please turn off your cameras. 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:22.480 Mute your microphones. All the functions are available 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:27.256 through the menu bar at the top of your screen in the new Teams. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:30.720 Live captioning is also available. Click the three-dot More button 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:33.976 and choose “turn on live captions.” 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.496 Before we get to today’s seminar, there are a few announcements. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.480 Next week’s seminar will be by Francois Renard of the University 00:00:40.480 --> 00:00:45.256 of Oslo speaking on the anatomy of earthquakes in the lower crust. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.096 As I said, we have a good lineup of speakers into March. 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:52.320 As always, if you have suggestions of speakers that you’d like to share 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:57.040 with the whole center, reach out to myself or Tamara Jeppson 00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:01.816 with those recommendations, and we’ll try to get them lined up. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:03.600 Other announcements of upcoming events. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.400 The next all-hands meeting for the Earthquake Science Center 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:10.000 is in two days on Friday, the 15th, at 11:00 a.m. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.855 Those of you involved will have gotten a calendar invite for that. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.120 Upcoming soon is the annual Northern California Earthquake 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:21.360 Hazards Workshop, and that’s hosted by the ESC. 00:01:21.360 --> 00:01:24.560 And, of course, this year, it will be all virtual, and it’s taking place 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.760 from February 2nd through 4th. It takes the place of the 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.933 Wednesday seminar that week. Or it will … 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:41.736 Yeah, so the registration for that is still open, and I believe 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.760 there’s a link in the chat. Yep. If you scroll up in the chat, 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.016 Susan Garcia has pasted a link to register for that if you haven’t yet. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.760 I’ll remind everyone who’s doing a lightning talk, you should have 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:00.894 gotten an email from Sarah Minson that the slides are due by the 19th. 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:06.960 So, that’s the end of those announcements. 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:09.200 Today our speaker is Eleanour Snow from the 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:13.589 USGS director’s office Youth and Education in Science. 00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:18.880 If you have questions – or, I’ll hand it over in a minute to Steve DeLong, 00:02:18.880 --> 00:02:22.640 who will introduce Eleanour. But, as a technical matter, if you 00:02:22.640 --> 00:02:26.640 have questions for Eleanour, please feel free to enter them in the chat. 00:02:26.640 --> 00:02:29.656 Tamara and I will be monitoring that and can 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:33.128 insert them if they’re appropriately urgent. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.416 So please feel free to write them in as they come up. 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:39.600 You can also raise your hand, and we’ll call on you. 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:43.600 And, of course, we all love to have human contact these days, so if you 00:02:43.600 --> 00:02:47.680 want to turn on your camera and microphone and ask the question 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:54.560 yourself, that’s always very welcome. So I will now hand it – and, as another 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:58.800 point, as usual, we’ll be hanging out a little bit after the – after the 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.800 formal seminar recording ends. So please feel free to stay on 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:07.040 afterwards and do a little meet-and-greet, chat with each other, 00:03:07.040 --> 00:03:10.936 chat with Eleanour, continue the conversation then. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:16.144 So, with that, I will hand it over to Steve DeLong to introduce Eleanour. 00:03:16.144 --> 00:03:17.360 - Thanks for joining, everyone. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:21.176 And really pleased that Eleanour Snow can join us today. 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:24.800 Eleanour’s first job as a geologist was at USGS Menlo Park. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.080 She was an intern with Allan Lindh’s Parkfield project. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:31.520 And so, for those with a long memory, part of her summer job was preparing 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:35.256 the punch cards for the computer program that had to run overnight. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.080 She was an undergrad at Pomona College at the time. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.000 And she went on to earn a master’s studying the Bishop Tuff and a Ph.D. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.080 at Brown University in minerology and microstructural geology. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.440 Eleanour spent most of her career as a professor in the geosciences, 00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:53.440 first at the University of Arizona, then University of South Florida. 00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:56.400 In 2006, she turned to outreach and mentoring full-time at the 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:01.520 University of Texas, first with Earth science teacher professional 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.480 development and then with GeoFORCE Texas, a large outreach 00:04:04.480 --> 00:04:07.120 program targeting mostly first-generation, mostly minority 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.840 youth in south Texas. Eleanour was in charge of 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.960 developing a college and career mentoring program for the students 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.616 and supporting them through college and into careers. 00:04:16.640 --> 00:04:20.880 Some of these students interned at USGS Menlo Park in the early 2010s. 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:23.600 Eleanour earned a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:28.080 Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring for that work in 2015. 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:31.920 In 2016, she joined us at the U.S. Geological Survey, where her position 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.960 as manager of youth and education programs allowed her to continue 00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:39.040 the focus on opportunities for diverse and talented youth in STEM fields. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.040 In addition, Eleanour represents the Department of Interior and the USGS 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.776 on several federal committees focusing on STEM education. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:51.120 She’s the lead of the DOI Interagency Youth Team and the co-lead of the 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.176 Federal Interagency Working Group for Inclusion in STEM. 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:59.520 The title of Eleanour’s talk today is USGS Youth and Education Programs 00:04:59.520 --> 00:05:04.216 with an Eye Toward Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.616 I’ll turn it over to you, Eleanour. Thanks. 00:05:08.628 --> 00:05:10.880 - Thank you, Steve. And, hello, everybody. 00:05:10.880 --> 00:05:14.400 I’m really delighted to be here. I was asked to talk about two things, 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:19.280 really – the work that I do with youth and education in our programs, 00:05:19.280 --> 00:05:24.560 but also how to really engage diversity in the programs that you 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:27.840 all are running in your centers. So the talk is kind of divided 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:30.400 into two parts. I’m going to start talking about 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:34.960 the JEDI work and best practices and then go into the programs 00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:40.536 that we have that we’d like to help science centers engage with. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.040 Just to start out, my team is very small. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.560 I have two permanent employees – Annie Scott and Laura Corey. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.120 And I have this year two fellows – Sheree Watson from the AAAS 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:55.520 Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, and Kama Almasi, who is 00:05:55.520 --> 00:06:00.856 a teacher working with us in the Einstein Educator Fellowship Program. 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:06.960 We really work hard in all of our programs to promote diversity in 00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:13.256 science and in education to provide opportunities for internships to students 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:18.560 and to help centers find good interns and then to work with youth outreach 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:24.216 so that we can really capture that next generation of potential scientists. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.320 I wanted to give you a sense of what we do within OSQI, and I’m not 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:31.120 going to go over all of this, but when I – when I came here, 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.480 there were a few things going on in the youth and education space. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:37.600 And, over the course of the last four years, we’ve really expanded 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.496 a great deal the kinds of things that my office does. 00:06:41.520 --> 00:06:45.360 And most of it we do with – through collaborations with other 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:50.696 centers because we are a tiny team. But this gives you a sense of, 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.120 in our programs, and in the youth and education and outreach space, 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.410 what all we’re doing. And I’m going to talk about a lot of these today. 00:07:01.280 --> 00:07:05.040 So let’s start with justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.600 And personally, I think JEDI is one of the best acronyms 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.136 anybody’s come up with in a long time. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.976 Doing – working for good. I like that a lot. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.560 My work here, as Steve mentioned, started actually way back at 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.680 University of South Florida when I had an NSF grant to 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.136 work with 7th- and 8th-grade girls in science. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:33.816 And I have moved more firmly into that field over the years. 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:36.880 I am currently the co-lead of the Interagency Working Group for 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:40.800 Inclusion in STEM, which is a federal interagency working group 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.800 that encompasses about a dozen different federal agencies. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.776 It’s underneath the federal STEM education plan, which is this 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:54.080 book cover on the right here. And, for those of you who are 00:07:54.080 --> 00:07:59.520 not aware of how these things get going in D.C., this is all in the 00:07:59.520 --> 00:08:03.280 Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is a White House office. 00:08:03.280 --> 00:08:07.016 The current lead of that is Kevin Droegemeier. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:12.960 And Biden hasn’t named a lead yet. Obama’s head of OSTP reported 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:14.800 directly to him and met with him every day. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.976 So I’m hoping that Biden has a similar close relationship to his lead scientist. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.600 Underneath OSTP, there are a bunch of committees that 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:26.320 formed to work on various things. And the Committee for STEM 00:08:26.320 --> 00:08:32.216 Education – CoSTEM – is headed by the head of NSF and the head of NASA. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.456 And then, underneath that, the Federal Coordination of STEM Education, 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:41.520 which wrote this plan and manages the – basically the work of CoSTEM – 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:45.120 how do we – how do we work on STEM education initiatives, 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:52.136 that all falls under the sub-committees, of which IWGIS is one, and the other 00:08:52.160 --> 00:08:56.800 four are one on strategic partnerships, one on computational literacy, 00:08:56.800 --> 00:09:00.376 one on convergence, and one on transparency and accountability. 00:09:00.400 --> 00:09:03.920 I’m the only DOI representative right now on any of these committees. 00:09:03.920 --> 00:09:09.256 So, if anyone’s interested in joining one of them, that would be great. 00:09:09.280 --> 00:09:12.640 So what do we do? The Interagency Working Group on 00:09:12.640 --> 00:09:19.786 Inclusion in STEM is working on three things that are wrapping up about now. 00:09:19.824 --> 00:09:23.120 And then, of course, we’ve got other things coming up in the future. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.360 But I’m going to share with you today some of the best practices and policies 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.520 for things that really work to drive the needle in diversity in federal agencies. 00:09:31.520 --> 00:09:36.160 We just – we are just in the final editing stages of a report on that. 00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:37.680 And there’s some really good ideas in there. 00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:39.920 So I’m going to share some of those with you today. 00:09:39.920 --> 00:09:47.040 We also did a large data dive to figure out where things stand across the 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:51.200 federal STEM agencies, and I’m going to share some of the federal data on 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:55.920 the USGS workforce, but we did this across all federal agencies, 00:09:55.920 --> 00:10:00.296 and that’s almost ready to – that is actually being published. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:04.560 And then we also worked in a scramble last summer. [chuckles] 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:09.200 We got together across federal agencies with what people were doing with 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:12.080 virtual internships as we developed them – you know, as you know, 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.160 we were building that plane while we flew it. 00:10:14.160 --> 00:10:18.800 So we are gathering now those experiences and putting together 00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:23.040 a report about how virtual internships work, what do you really 00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:26.240 need in place to make them work. And that should be coming out soon. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:29.576 Because we think we’re going to be needing those in the next year. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.760 So that’s where all that starts from. So here are five best practices or 00:10:35.760 --> 00:10:39.760 policies identified through this work. And the first one is to form 00:10:39.760 --> 00:10:43.200 strong partnerships. USGS has partnerships with 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.000 some minority-serving institutions, and I know some of you are 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:50.776 engaged in some of those and are interested in forming others. 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:53.680 It’s really important, when you do that kind of work, that you’re 00:10:53.680 --> 00:10:58.720 bringing something to the table. We’re not just dropping by at a HBCU 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:02.480 to recruit, but we’re actually engaging with the faculty and the students there, 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:09.176 committing time. It’s important to consider, when you are bringing, 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.736 for example, a student in, to think about a cohort model. 00:11:13.760 --> 00:11:17.120 If you’re bringing in – as our friends at Woods Hole have found [chuckles], 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:20.800 if you’re bringing in the one Black student to a summer internship 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:23.360 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, that can be a problem. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:29.040 And so think about, if you want to work with a minority-serving institution, 00:11:29.040 --> 00:11:33.120 bring two or three students into your center from the same – 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:36.160 the same group at the same time. Mentor throughout the year. 00:11:36.160 --> 00:11:40.000 And don’t forget to engage the faculty. And this is a picture of a student at 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.600 Tennessee State University doing some water sampling without his – 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:48.960 without his protective gear, but the Water Science Center 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.680 in Nashville has installed USGS monitoring equipment 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:53.040 on campus at Tennessee State. 00:11:53.040 --> 00:11:56.957 So that’s a great model for deep engagement. 00:11:57.886 --> 00:12:02.960 Align diversity inclusion goals with the organization goals. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:07.280 And that’s just because diversity makes better science, 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:13.176 justice builds stronger communities, inclusion is good for business – 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:17.520 it makes better and happier employees, and equity improves morale. 00:12:17.520 --> 00:12:22.800 So – and I know that the hazards mission area has really been 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:27.256 a leader in this across USGS, which is terrific to see. 00:12:27.280 --> 00:12:32.400 Target your outreach. So my office does engage with diversity seminars. 00:12:32.400 --> 00:12:35.120 And many of you all have joined us on those. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:37.840 The SACNAS meeting – the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:40.320 and Native Americans in Science, the National Association of 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.840 Black Geoscientists. When you engage directly 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:47.496 with organizations that are targeting diversity, you can 00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:51.503 improve your own diversity target efforts. 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:55.840 Adopt inclusive hiring practices. I think one of the most impactful 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:02.216 things that I heard in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder this summer 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:07.840 is résumés accumulate privilege. And what that means – what I mean 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.440 by that is that, when you’re looking at a recent graduate, and you see 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:16.480 straight A’s, you’re most likely looking at somebody who came from 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.040 an affluent community, went to a really good high school, 00:13:19.040 --> 00:13:24.376 had opportunities as a kid to go to science camp. 00:13:24.400 --> 00:13:31.816 Those privileges accumulate in résumés and show up as really strong résumés. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:37.200 But students who didn’t have that opportunity as a young kid are often 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:42.696 just as talented and can bring things to the table that you’re missing. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.520 But you might not see them if you’re looking at GPAs first. 00:13:45.520 --> 00:13:49.680 So pay attention to those kinds of things. 00:13:49.680 --> 00:13:54.000 Educate the hiring team about bias. Consider redacting names. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:59.600 I’m sure you’ve seen there’s a lot of data out that names – identical résumés 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.280 with ethnic names or with female names get lower graded. 00:14:03.280 --> 00:14:07.816 So you can consider redacting names in the first evaluation. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:12.696 Recognize that some experiences might not be possible for all candidates. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.760 Field camp is kind of a privilege to be able to spend the whole summer 00:14:15.760 --> 00:14:17.920 spending a lot of money instead of earning it. 00:14:17.920 --> 00:14:20.720 So think about those kinds of things when you’re 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.746 thinking about inclusive hiring. 00:14:25.040 --> 00:14:31.520 These are the data that – from FY19 from June of 2019 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:38.080 for USGS STEM employees. And you can see that under-represented 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:43.816 minorities and women are very under- represented [laughs] across USGS. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:49.360 And so, a best practice with policy is to monitor and assess and hold 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.080 accountable your leaders for the goals that you’re making and 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:53.840 the changes that you want to make. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.496 We know where we’re starting, to let’s see how we can end in a better place. 00:14:59.520 --> 00:15:08.536 And finally, be able to examine your own culture and your own biases and 00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:11.280 have uncomfortable conversations. And there’s a couple of really 00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:14.560 nice things going around. One is a film series called 00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:21.360 Can We Talk? by Kendall Moore. She’s a – she’s a documentary 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.920 filmmaker at University of Rhode Island. 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:26.960 And some of you may have seen some of her films or parts of some of 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:30.720 her films at either the AGU or the GSA meeting this last year. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:35.440 She is also available to bring those films and those discussions to groups 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:39.816 who want to have those difficult discussions. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.800 This book that you see here – What If I Say the Wrong Thing? – 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:51.920 is my reading list for this spring. I think we can always learn and 00:15:51.920 --> 00:15:55.896 continue to learn, so book groups might be helpful. 00:15:55.920 --> 00:16:01.600 In your communities, in your office places, build community and listen 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:07.040 and learn from the people that are trying to teach you about 00:16:07.040 --> 00:16:13.280 diversity, equity, and inclusion. I think there’s always a first impulse 00:16:13.280 --> 00:16:17.440 when somebody says, you know, it really offended me when you 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.480 did X, to defend yourself. Well, I didn’t mean to be – 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.200 I’m sorry – you know, I’m not – I’m not prejudiced. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.376 I didn’t mean that. Don’t go there first. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:33.440 First, go to, tell me more. I would like to understand more. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.240 I’d like to learn from you about why that was offensive. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.560 Because we don’t always recognize our own biases. 00:16:38.560 --> 00:16:46.160 We use things – words, phrases – that we picked up when we were kids. 00:16:46.160 --> 00:16:50.560 And they’re still part of our ethos, and they might be highly offensive 00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:53.040 to some people, but we don’t recognize it because it hasn’t 00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:56.056 been brought to our attention. So pay attention and listen. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:02.456 So those are the best practices for diversity, equity, and inclusion. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.520 And, if you’d like to have a discussion about any of those now, before we 00:17:05.520 --> 00:17:10.792 move on to some of my – the YES programs, I’d be happy to do that. 00:17:13.628 --> 00:17:17.040 [silence] 00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:20.128 I’m not seeing anything in the chat. 00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:27.542 So let’s look at some programs. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:34.320 So the Youth and Education in Science office manages internship programs, 00:17:34.320 --> 00:17:38.080 and we also helps centers manage other internship programs. 00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:41.840 The ones you’re probably familiar with are the Cooperative Summer 00:17:41.840 --> 00:17:46.320 Fellowship Program – and this has been called the NAGT program. 00:17:46.320 --> 00:17:49.760 So you might be thinking about it as the NAGT, or the NAGT program. 00:17:49.760 --> 00:17:53.440 This is the longest-standing geoscience internship program in the country. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:57.680 It goes back to the mid-’60s. And, through that program, 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:01.200 we accept nominations of excellent students from the National 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:06.480 Association of Geoscience Teaachers. And then, at my end, in my office, 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.400 we invite proposals from scientists who would like to hire these students 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:15.280 in the summer. We match the student applications to proposals 00:18:15.280 --> 00:18:20.136 for interviews, and then the scientists make the hiring decisions. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:27.760 We expanded that program to include students from the Ecological Society 00:18:27.760 --> 00:18:32.880 of America who have good ecosystems field training and also with a 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:37.600 partnership with the Geographic Information Systems – GIS – 00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:42.720 Certification Institute for students with GIS certification. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:46.640 And that came out of the Western Geographic Group there in 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:50.000 Menlo Park asking us to bring in some GIS-certified science students. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.896 So we changed the name because it’s broader now than just NAGT. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.760 And that program is ongoing. We’re just about to have our panel 00:18:57.760 --> 00:19:02.000 meeting and make the matches between students and projects 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:07.840 for interviews next week. There’s also a program for graduate 00:19:07.840 --> 00:19:11.120 students that is cooperative with the National Science Foundation. 00:19:11.120 --> 00:19:15.200 And, in that program, NSF actually funds the student to come and work 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:20.400 at USGS for up to six months. My office facilitates the partnership 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.560 with NSF and tries to help scientists and students meet each other 00:19:24.560 --> 00:19:28.800 in a couple of ways. On our website, which is GRO 00:19:28.800 --> 00:19:33.040 at USGS – graduate research opportunities. We post opportunities. 00:19:33.040 --> 00:19:36.080 If you’re trying to attract a student, you can send us a proposal, 00:19:36.080 --> 00:19:39.200 and we’ll get it posted there. Students hopefully come there and 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:46.240 look and find scientists that way. We also hold a webinar that is 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:50.320 advertised by NSF to graduate students twice a year to introduce 00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:53.440 them to what we’re doing. And we go around to meetings and 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.640 try to share that whenever we’re on college campuses as well. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:03.200 So far, since 2016, we’ve had about 106 students come to USGS through 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:09.691 that program, representing 60 years of work [laughs] at the USGS. 00:20:09.731 --> 00:20:12.880 Sixty years. And all for free for USGS. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.696 So a great way to get great internships done. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.760 We are also piloting – we were intending to pilot [chuckles] 00:20:19.760 --> 00:20:23.176 in the spring, before COVID shut everything down, 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:26.240 a program for college students on the autism spectrum. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.936 And this came to our attention through the work we do with STEP-UP. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.000 And we’ll talk about that one a little bit later, but we learned that 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.560 college students with autism are employed at a very, very low rate. 00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:42.560 Only 15% of college graduates on the spectrum get jobs in their 00:20:42.560 --> 00:20:45.120 field after graduation. And that’s just dismal because 00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:51.520 these are often brilliant students, but they have difficulty with social 00:20:51.520 --> 00:20:54.560 interactions, and they don’t interview well, and it’s very difficult for them 00:20:54.560 --> 00:20:59.760 to get jobs. So we’re working with Colorado School of Mines and their 00:20:59.760 --> 00:21:03.496 disability services offices, and the earthquake office right there, 00:21:03.520 --> 00:21:06.400 to pilot this program. And hopefully we’ll be able to 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.360 bring some people in. It’s not really doable as a virtual 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:20.216 internship because the whole point is to get the students in office settings 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:24.320 and get used to that setting. So what we’re – we hope to 00:21:24.320 --> 00:21:26.000 be able to do that soon. We’re also doing it with 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.920 George Mason University in the D.C. area. And we’d be happy 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:34.300 to expand it once we know what we’re doing across other places. 00:21:35.785 --> 00:21:38.667 - Eleanour, may I interrupt about that with a quick question? 00:21:38.667 --> 00:21:40.011 - Absolutely. 00:21:40.011 --> 00:21:46.776 - Is the – is the idea of that program – well, will it be sort of accompanied by 00:21:46.800 --> 00:21:52.000 the attendant framing and necessarily, I think, for mentors to be given the 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.160 resources to handle this kind of diversity of people on staff that 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.600 they may be having under them? Because it seems that maybe a 00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:05.360 big component of why – what that barrier is, right, is people’s discomfort 00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:09.016 or unfamiliarity with dealing with certain populations of people. 00:22:09.040 --> 00:22:14.560 Are there resources being devoted to the mentor side of that as well? 00:22:14.560 --> 00:22:16.880 - Yes. Yeah. I think that’s a great question, Austin. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.280 And that is the plan. It’s one of the reasons why we’re 00:22:19.280 --> 00:22:23.440 piloting this with two universities that have really strong disability 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:29.816 services offices and specific services for students on the spectrum, so that 00:22:29.840 --> 00:22:35.896 part of the initial pilot will be working with that office to train the mentors 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:41.520 and provide the right environment. We did one tiny, little pilot – 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:44.480 one student, one lab [laughs] here in D.C. 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.240 And it was really interesting for the – for the advocate from the university 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.920 to come by and say, you know, okay, for this student, this particular 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.320 desk setting wouldn’t work because it’s too noisy. 00:22:54.320 --> 00:22:58.880 It’s too – somewhere quieter, and a corner would be better for this kid. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:01.280 So those kinds of things are really important, and that’s why 00:23:01.280 --> 00:23:05.363 we’re starting this with those offices. 00:23:07.360 --> 00:23:09.576 Thanks for the question. That’s a good one. 00:23:09.600 --> 00:23:15.200 We also are – help other people facilitate internship programs. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:20.880 USGS has had three fairly longstanding partnership pipeline programs 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.720 with minority-serving institutions. One with University of Puerto Rico 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:28.136 at Mayagüez. That’s been going on for more than 30 years. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:33.200 One at City College of New York for about 15 years. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.160 And then Tennessee State University that’s been going on 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:40.320 for 10 years or more. So we keep advocating for 00:23:40.320 --> 00:23:45.336 more funding for those and try to help push the MOUs for those. 00:23:45.360 --> 00:23:49.360 These are generally started by scientists who want to do something with this 00:23:49.360 --> 00:23:54.880 local school and with this – with this – with this population of faculty 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:59.040 and students. And so one thing my office can do is take the paperwork burden 00:23:59.040 --> 00:24:05.840 off of you and make sure that the legal team looks at the agreements, 00:24:05.840 --> 00:24:12.136 and you don’t have to manage all that back-and-forth. We’ll do that for you. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.680 We also help people set up community college partnerships. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:19.440 And, if you haven’t used it yet, you really should get on the 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:23.976 Virtual Student Federal Service. That’s a State Department program 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:30.000 that we’ll help you find and use, but that asks college students 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.320 or graduate students to volunteer to work on federal projects. 00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:38.720 They have to be doable outside of the firewall, but, boy, we’ve gotten some 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:42.320 great work from VSFS, and we’re happy to share that information 00:24:42.320 --> 00:24:46.720 on how to do that. So one of the ways we do this – and I think Austin’s 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:50.560 going to put this link into the chat for you, and then I’ll walk you through 00:24:50.560 --> 00:24:55.576 a few things on our internship resources SharePoint site. 00:24:55.600 --> 00:25:01.040 We’re using SharePoint more and more now to start to share things 00:25:01.040 --> 00:25:09.058 across USGS and get resources into people’s hands. So this site … 00:25:09.718 --> 00:25:10.838 Do do do do. 00:25:12.800 --> 00:25:17.416 We have resources for interns. This is really great. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:23.280 We have in here some bios of interns from last summer. 00:25:23.280 --> 00:25:27.336 So, if you have an intern you want to feature here, let us know. 00:25:27.360 --> 00:25:31.736 Some things for them – how to get the most out of your internship. 00:25:31.760 --> 00:25:34.536 Some – how to be a good advisee. 00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:40.376 But what I really want you to see down here is this learning series 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.120 for young scientists. And I think you might be able to 00:25:43.120 --> 00:25:48.000 use this with any mentees that you have in the early stages of their career. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:54.376 This was created by a geoscientist, Anne Egger, who’s actually now 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:58.480 the head of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:01.760 And it’s a whole series about research. What is research? 00:26:01.760 --> 00:26:03.656 How do you think like a scientist? 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:08.960 This past summer, we used the episode on responsible conduct 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:13.840 of research for a webinar that we did for interns this summer. 00:26:13.840 --> 00:26:17.920 Each of these units has a little movie and then additional reading 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:22.320 things that you might choose. So I think it’s a great resource. 00:26:22.320 --> 00:26:24.560 And if you have young scientists who are interns 00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:27.096 you’re mentoring, send them there. 00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:32.320 We also have resources for mentors, and we have some information 00:26:32.320 --> 00:26:37.040 about how to be a good mentor and other things there. 00:26:37.040 --> 00:26:40.400 And then, down here, each of our different programs. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.680 So the graduate student program, the undergraduate program, 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:47.120 how to participate with Virtual Student Federal Service, and then 00:26:47.120 --> 00:26:50.240 how to build partnerships with colleges and universities. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.280 And so what do these partnerships look like? How do they work? 00:26:55.280 --> 00:27:00.560 And then MOUs that are templates you can – you can build on if you 00:27:00.560 --> 00:27:06.000 want to build something. So that’s built for people across USGS to use 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.894 as they develop these kinds of programs. And feel free to dig in there. 00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:15.621 Let’s see. Back here. 00:27:17.120 --> 00:27:22.080 We also – my office also manages the USGS participation at diversity 00:27:22.080 --> 00:27:24.800 conferences. The SACNAS conference and the – and the 00:27:24.800 --> 00:27:28.616 NABG conference – the National Association of Black Geoscientists. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:33.680 So you’ll see from us coming up in the early summer – late spring, 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.240 early summer – information about inviting scientists to participate in 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.680 those conferences and to mentor students at them. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:44.560 Both of these organizations – well, I shouldn’t say that. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:52.720 SACNAS has campus groups all across the U.S. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.080 And so, when you’re visiting a college campus, you might look for 00:27:56.080 --> 00:27:59.040 an organization like SACNAS on campus, and, in addition to 00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:02.240 engaging with the geology department or the department you’ve come to visit, 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.800 see if you can visit with some of the diversity organizations 00:28:04.800 --> 00:28:08.144 that there might be on campus as well. 00:28:09.785 --> 00:28:14.080 We also produce educational resources for teachers and for learners. 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:17.976 And one of the things that we’re really interested – we’re actually doing 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.200 three new things this year that I wanted to alert you to and let you – 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:25.840 invite you to participate in. One is, we really want to get more data 00:28:25.840 --> 00:28:30.080 into the hands of teachers and learners. And teachers are really asking for this. 00:28:30.080 --> 00:28:35.280 So, if there are data sets that you’re producing that you think would be 00:28:35.280 --> 00:28:38.616 great for teachers to get their hands on, please let me know. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:42.080 We’ll try to put it into a format – help you get it into a format, 00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:48.000 or at least write a filter that pulls out [chuckles] the right data that a teacher 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.616 could handle on various subjects. Teachers are clamoring for that. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.800 We’re also working on education rapid response. 00:28:54.800 --> 00:28:57.040 And actually, this came out of a conversation that I had when 00:28:57.040 --> 00:29:01.336 I was down in Pasadena visiting the earthquake folks down there. 00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:04.800 They mentioned that one of the biggest challenges that you have is when there’s 00:29:04.800 --> 00:29:08.080 a big earthquake, you get a lot of calls saying, can you come talk to my class. 00:29:08.080 --> 00:29:10.800 And you’re all too busy handling the earthquake to do that. 00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:14.560 So we’re actually working with partners in D.C. on something we’re calling 00:29:14.560 --> 00:29:18.880 Education Rapid Response that, in the immediate aftermath of 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:26.960 a natural disaster, that USGS and NOAA and AGI and IRIS would 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:30.960 immediately post information for teachers about that disaster. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:39.600 And then also, we would have a slew of experts who are willing to talk to 00:29:39.600 --> 00:29:44.320 classrooms, and we would have a bunch of time slots pretty quickly – 00:29:44.320 --> 00:29:48.376 within 48 hours is our goal – that teachers could sign up for 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:53.920 to have a scientist talk to their classroom. So that was a great idea. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:59.200 We actually have a virtual student – federal service guy working on the 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:03.760 interface now to pull information and create the interface that the 00:30:03.760 --> 00:30:08.640 teachers might use to find scientists. So you’re going to probably see, 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.240 by the end of the spring, me reaching out and saying, hey, you want to be 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:16.616 on our list, in case there’s a big earthquake, to talk to people. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.920 And the other thing we’re doing that’s new is a series that 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:24.120 we’re calling What On Earth. That’s that picture in the lower right. 00:30:24.120 --> 00:30:28.000 What on Earth is geologic time? The goal of this series is to be a very 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.696 visual educational series, just one page, front and back, one topic. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:38.400 And the geologic time one is actually going to have five in a series. 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:42.560 So we’re open to series. The first one is just basic. 00:30:42.560 --> 00:30:46.080 What is geologic time? The second one is, what is absolute time? 00:30:46.080 --> 00:30:51.496 The third one is, what is relative time? And the fourth and fifth are both 00:30:51.520 --> 00:30:57.760 geologic sections of the Grand Canyon – one for younger learners 00:30:57.760 --> 00:31:01.280 and one for older learners, so they can color it in and – so the goal of 00:31:01.280 --> 00:31:06.880 these is to, in the long run, have a whole series of these very quick 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.120 learning exercises that teachers might pull and give it as a background. 00:31:11.120 --> 00:31:13.600 We’re studying this tomorrow. Read this and be prepared 00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:17.280 with questions. Or the general public might grab. 00:31:17.280 --> 00:31:22.560 You know, I really want to know what is a surface earthquake wave? 00:31:22.560 --> 00:31:27.416 And there’s a one-page thing they can pull and look at that and 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:31.760 think about that hazard. So we’re also very interested in people 00:31:31.760 --> 00:31:35.840 who might want to participate in creating those, giving us a list of, what 00:31:35.840 --> 00:31:40.097 are the most important things, but also creating some of the content for those. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:43.040 We’ve also working on some educational campaigns. 00:31:43.040 --> 00:31:48.080 You may have seen the Powell150 project campaign last year. 00:31:48.080 --> 00:31:52.720 Some of you guys participated in that. We’re rolling that into a 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:58.400 Be an Explorer, where we’re tying the 1869 Powell to 1969 lunar landing 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:03.200 to 2069, perhaps a Mars landing. And another Grand Canyon. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:09.520 So we think that educational campaigns are a great way to pull the public 00:32:09.520 --> 00:32:14.972 into our science by getting a hook that’s kind of exciting. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:21.760 This – last year, one of my fellows, Sheree Watson, who’s the 00:32:21.760 --> 00:32:26.000 AAAS fellow, worked on citizen science projects. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:31.680 And she built a SharePoint site that is a resource for crowdfunding and 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:36.216 citizen science projects that can help people who want to build them 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:40.560 figure out best practices for that. She also created citizen science 00:32:40.560 --> 00:32:44.720 projects for Native youth. There were three of them that she 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:48.080 worked on with partners in Hawaii. One was using these little 00:32:48.080 --> 00:32:54.056 Raspberry Shakes. Then she’s working with Jefferson Chang at HVO, 00:32:54.080 --> 00:32:57.600 and he’s got a group of kids who have these little miniature seismographs, 00:32:57.600 --> 00:33:02.800 and they’re putting them out all over town to register the small earthquakes 00:33:02.800 --> 00:33:05.440 that are happening in the magma chamber. 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.400 And so that’s one of the citizen science projects. 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.480 And he’s got Native kids involved in that. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:17.496 Another one is with the ecosystems people out there looking at a native 00:33:17.520 --> 00:33:22.720 plant that is under attack of a parasite. And so they’re having kids gather data 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:26.720 on those plants as they see them. And then the third one is with 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:32.296 the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center. 00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:37.040 And it is a mobile app that allows people to report changes that they’ve 00:33:37.040 --> 00:33:40.480 seen in their landscape that might be climate-related. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:47.120 So there’s a lot of opportunity in citizen science to really develop 00:33:47.120 --> 00:33:50.720 some deep engagement. Obviously, you guys know about 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:55.040 that because Did You Feel It? is the biggest citizen science project 00:33:55.040 --> 00:33:57.976 [chuckles] in the – in the USGS. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.536 But there’s a lot of other ways to do that too. 00:34:00.560 --> 00:34:06.800 The citizen science and crowdsourcing SharePoint site is here, and I think 00:34:06.800 --> 00:34:09.736 Elliott’s going to put that link into the chat. 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:14.160 You’ll find there data on the projects that we have, a toolbox for how to 00:34:14.160 --> 00:34:17.920 build a project, and then resources that really talk about, what is citizen 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:21.680 science, and how can it be used. So please, if you’re interested 00:34:21.680 --> 00:34:25.707 in building something in that realm, dig in there. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:29.920 My office also works on outreach and education activities. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:34.960 And we have a outreach working group. It’s a community of practice across 00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:39.440 USGS that meets every other Tuesday at 11:30 Pacific time. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:42.376 It met yesterday, so there’s the schedule for you. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:48.160 That group shares resources on what they do in a classroom. 00:34:48.160 --> 00:34:51.680 So, you know, if somebody comes to you and says, hey, I need – I would like 00:34:51.680 --> 00:34:54.560 you to come talk to 3rd-graders about dinosaurs, and you don’t know how to 00:34:54.560 --> 00:34:58.720 do that, hopefully somebody’s shared something in this shared space 00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:02.160 that allows you to just pull that and take it and go. 00:35:02.160 --> 00:35:06.080 We’re hoping to, through that site, have common messaging when 00:35:06.080 --> 00:35:10.720 we reach out to classrooms. And a really easy way for you to 00:35:10.720 --> 00:35:17.496 implement either classroom visits or on-site science festivals. 00:35:17.520 --> 00:35:21.040 So we’re sharing an idea bank there. The other thing we’re doing this year 00:35:21.040 --> 00:35:26.000 that we’re about to pilot, actually, with some scientists and teachers 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:29.576 in our Midwest region are virtual classroom visits. 00:35:29.600 --> 00:35:32.320 This pandemic has created a lot of challenges, but it’s also 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:35.760 created opportunity. And one of them is to get to more classrooms. 00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:40.960 So you could get a great earthquake scientist in Louisiana. 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:43.520 There might not be any living there, but you guys are – you guys can 00:35:43.520 --> 00:35:46.160 get there virtually. So we’re going to pilot virtual 00:35:46.160 --> 00:35:51.120 classroom visits this spring. And, again, have resources in there 00:35:51.120 --> 00:35:55.416 for scientists who want to participate to make it easy for them. 00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:59.535 And then a mechanism for teachers to find them. 00:36:00.720 --> 00:36:06.320 And our outreach page SharePoint site is here. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:10.776 And I want to show you a couple of things on that site, and I think that 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:14.167 Austin’s putting the link into the chat. 00:36:16.720 --> 00:36:21.777 But, on that site, we have … 00:36:22.941 --> 00:36:28.800 The resources for K-12 audiences has things that other people have used 00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:34.080 in a classroom on these various topics. So you can dig in there if you have been 00:36:34.080 --> 00:36:37.040 asked to do something that, you know, you studied in college, but you haven’t 00:36:37.040 --> 00:36:39.760 thought about deeply since then, and you need to present it. 00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:42.776 There’s hopefully some things in there to use. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:45.040 I also have resources there for college visits. 00:36:45.040 --> 00:36:49.440 I visit college campuses a lot, and I give a talk about the things 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:52.800 across – mostly USGS, but also across government. 00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:54.960 And there’s – the PowerPoint that I use is in there. 00:36:54.960 --> 00:36:57.040 You’re welcome to grab it if you’ve been asked to speak 00:36:57.040 --> 00:37:00.456 to a college campus, and use it as you will. 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:03.440 Outreach events is not built up very well yet, but we’re hoping 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:07.760 people share what they do in outreach. And the virtual classroom visits 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:12.536 is where we’re trying to build the community of practice for doing this. 00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:17.280 And so we’ll share resources about how to do that as we start to 00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:23.360 build that initiative up. If we ever get to touch anything again, 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:27.520 we built two augmented reality sandboxes. 00:37:27.520 --> 00:37:29.656 And they’re the greatest things ever. 00:37:29.680 --> 00:37:33.750 But they’re both on hiatus right now. [laughs] 00:37:36.402 --> 00:37:42.000 [silence] 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:46.720 So OSQI – the Office of Science Quality and Integrity also has other 00:37:46.720 --> 00:37:50.300 things in the youth and education space that aren’t directly under me, 00:37:50.324 --> 00:37:54.216 but I can still connect you to them if you’d like to be connected. 00:37:54.240 --> 00:37:56.880 STEP-UP, as you know – you guys have that out there. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:02.000 You were the second group to ask for that, and I came out to 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:07.840 Menlo Park to meet with you all and talk about setting that up – 00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:12.696 I guess it must have been – I’m thinking it was fall of 2018. 00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:15.120 And then we hired a new person, and he’s kind of taken over 00:38:15.120 --> 00:38:17.840 the STEP-UP program. Chris Hammond is now in charge of that. 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:21.680 It’s in, I think, nine different sites. I don’t think I have even all the sites 00:38:21.680 --> 00:38:26.320 down here. But STEP-UP, for those of you who have not been involved 00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:30.480 with that or don’t have it at your center yet, this is the Secondary Transition 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:34.560 to Employment Program for young adults with disabilities. 00:38:34.560 --> 00:38:39.176 And these are – these are 18- to 22-year-olds who are 00:38:39.200 --> 00:38:42.000 still in the school system. They don’t have a high school diploma 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:44.080 because that’s not their skill set. 00:38:44.080 --> 00:38:47.360 What they – most of the ones who work at USGS and have been 00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:50.960 successful are on the autism spectrum – on the sort of – what they would 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:54.536 call the moderate to lower-functioning end of that. 00:38:54.560 --> 00:38:58.320 The real talent that these young people have is 00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:00.880 attention to detail in a variety of ways. 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:04.936 And, of course, they’re individuals. They have individual talents. 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:09.200 We’ve had students picking forams. We’ve had them picking earthquakes 00:39:09.200 --> 00:39:17.016 at Menlo Park. We’ve had then scanning and uploading reams of data. 00:39:17.040 --> 00:39:24.456 And we’ve had them doing – building web pages. 00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:29.840 The kinds of things that might be tedious and require a lot of the same 00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:35.600 task again and again and again is the sweet spot for a lot of these 00:39:35.600 --> 00:39:41.520 young people. And so they come to us through the STEP-UP program while 00:39:41.520 --> 00:39:44.720 they’re still in school, and so they’re volunteering, and they’re learning 00:39:44.720 --> 00:39:50.720 job skills. And they can be hired as Schedule A employees. 00:39:50.720 --> 00:39:55.336 In fact, I think three of – three of these four have been hired at USGS Reston. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:58.080 The young woman in the wheelchair and both of these young men are 00:39:58.080 --> 00:40:02.936 now USGS employees, and really valuable employees at that. 00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:06.080 So, if you don’t have STEP-UP in your region, or if you’re in 00:40:06.080 --> 00:40:12.080 Menlo Park or Denver or Reston or Woods Hole, and you want to engage 00:40:12.080 --> 00:40:17.096 these students in the work that you’re doing, look into that. It’s terrific. 00:40:17.120 --> 00:40:21.600 Of course, the Mendenhall postdoc program is also in our office, 00:40:21.600 --> 00:40:26.136 and you all are using that really effectively. 00:40:26.160 --> 00:40:31.360 And then finally, the Office of Tribal Relations is also part of OSQI. 00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:35.200 And they’ve got a couple of things that they’ve done that are really terrific 00:40:35.200 --> 00:40:39.416 with Native youth. One of them is this program in Woods Hole 00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:43.440 called Preserving our Homeland. And it works with the Mashpee 00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:49.760 Wampanoag Tribe hand-in-hand with USGS scientists and tribal elders. 00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:55.040 Kids come for a week onto the USGS campus, and they learn traditional 00:40:55.040 --> 00:40:58.376 ecological knowledge about their homeland, but also the 00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:04.776 geology and the science of the area. And it’s a really nice melding of 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:09.896 those two kinds of – kinds of looking at the world. 00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:15.680 It’s the kind of thing that USGS – that OSQI would really love to 00:41:15.680 --> 00:41:19.440 replicate in other places. So if you are working – if you’re nearby 00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:24.616 with a local tribe, and you’re interested in working with their kids, this model 00:41:24.640 --> 00:41:31.113 has been very, very successful as a way to work with Native youth. 00:41:33.280 --> 00:41:41.440 So, in summary, I guess my office, the YES office, is – we are here to 00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:49.360 work with you. We’re tiny, but what we can do with you is share best practices, 00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:56.720 offer programs, advise, and consult with you on a regular basis, 00:41:56.720 --> 00:42:00.400 on a ad hoc basis, for things you’re trying to put into place. 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:06.240 We can act as a resource, as a partner. You can be a customer to us [chuckles] 00:42:06.240 --> 00:42:09.976 for some of our programs, like the internship programs as well. 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:15.520 But the main goal is, as a entity in science support at USGS, 00:42:15.520 --> 00:42:18.080 what we really want to do is help you achieve your goals. 00:42:18.080 --> 00:42:23.840 And so, if there are ways that we can do that, that is our goal, 00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:26.800 and that’s what we’d love to be able to do. 00:42:27.520 --> 00:42:31.456 And that’s the end of my slides. Thank you. 00:42:32.496 --> 00:42:36.160 - Thank you so much, Eleanour, for a really fabulous walk-through 00:42:36.160 --> 00:42:40.000 of the vast resources that you and your group have developed there. 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:46.080 And I think you’ve probably spawned a great deal of inspiration and 00:42:46.080 --> 00:42:50.800 ideas among the group here. So I had some questions for you, 00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:55.680 but I will probably first open it up for anyone else who has things 00:42:55.680 --> 00:42:57.920 they’d like to ask of Eleanour. Either enter them in the chat 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:00.000 or raise your hand, and we’ll call on. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.056 Feel free to ask a question yourself, maybe as I call on you. 00:43:04.080 --> 00:43:07.360 I’ll start with a couple that came up in the chat, just in the 00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:12.560 order that they appeared. First, Alan Yong says, regarding 00:43:12.560 --> 00:43:16.560 the community college program, hi, Eleanour, I didn’t catch the name 00:43:16.560 --> 00:43:19.520 of the other university, but you may want to consider two other academic 00:43:19.520 --> 00:43:23.520 institutions in southern California – Cal State Northridge and Pasadena 00:43:23.520 --> 00:43:27.120 City College, where there’s strong disabled student services and 00:43:27.120 --> 00:43:30.160 physical science departments. So that’s just sort of a … 00:43:30.160 --> 00:43:34.496 - Oh, terrific. Thank you, Alan. I see that. 00:43:35.105 --> 00:43:39.840 - And then Kate has a question about the intern SharePoint site that a lot 00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:43.440 of the interns are not necessarily on DOI computers and outside 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:47.120 of those resources. So are there sort of public-facing and accessible 00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:52.160 versions of those really great resources? Or would they need to be channeled 00:43:52.160 --> 00:43:57.280 through DOI and SharePoint? - Yeah. So that’s a really good question. 00:43:57.280 --> 00:44:03.120 The DOI SharePoint does allow us to build a SharePoint site for 00:44:03.120 --> 00:44:08.640 external collaborations. And we do use that with our VSFS students. 00:44:08.640 --> 00:44:15.656 So I do have a SharePoint site that is accessible to outside partners. 00:44:15.680 --> 00:44:19.440 They do have to be named and invited by name. 00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:21.680 So you can’t just make it open to the world. 00:44:21.680 --> 00:44:25.440 But I actually hadn’t thought about putting our intern resources there. 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:27.576 That’s a really good idea. 00:44:27.600 --> 00:44:30.496 And a relatively straightforward thing to do. 00:44:31.542 --> 00:44:36.856 - Great to hear that that is somewhat trivial. [laughs] 00:44:36.880 --> 00:44:39.520 All right. So, let’s see. Steve Hickman has his hand up. 00:44:39.520 --> 00:44:44.000 Let’s go to that. - Hi. In the interest of seeing faces, 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:47.016 as you said, Austin, I’m going to do this live. 00:44:47.040 --> 00:44:49.360 First of all, Eleanour, I really appreciate everything you’ve done. 00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:52.880 This is a very inspiring program and an inspiring presentation. 00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:54.972 Given us a lot of ideas. Thank you. 00:44:54.972 --> 00:44:58.560 - Thank you, Steve. - I had two specific questions. 00:44:58.560 --> 00:45:01.200 One is, of course, with the COVID pandemic upon us, you mentioned 00:45:01.200 --> 00:45:04.696 a couple things we can do virtually just to get started. 00:45:04.720 --> 00:45:06.960 You went through a lot of materials. Are there other things we could 00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:10.400 do virtually to get started engaging with students, you know, 00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:12.960 and with their professors? You mentioned some of the 00:45:12.960 --> 00:45:16.320 secondary school activities. So if there’s some way to sort of 00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:20.080 distill down things we can do now to get started and not wait until we 00:45:20.080 --> 00:45:22.880 can actually physically be present, that would be helpful. 00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:25.920 Maybe just an email – here are some of the ways we can get started. 00:45:25.920 --> 00:45:30.296 Rather than just sitting around waiting for COVID to get under control. 00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:32.000 The other question I had – that was one thing. 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:34.560 And the other question I had was about international students. 00:45:34.560 --> 00:45:37.520 You mentioned Mendenhalls. Of course, it’s very difficult to hire – 00:45:37.520 --> 00:45:41.040 almost impossible to hire international students on Mendenhalls, but often 00:45:41.040 --> 00:45:45.332 those are the best applicants – most highly trained for particular things. 00:45:45.367 --> 00:45:49.600 Are there other programs that you manage that are open to – or know 00:45:49.600 --> 00:45:52.960 about – that are open to international students so we can bring international 00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:57.347 students into the activities of the Earthquake Science Center? 00:45:57.347 --> 00:46:00.240 - So I don’t know of any way to bring international students 00:46:00.240 --> 00:46:05.896 into a federal position. Unfortunately. 00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:08.080 I don’t know if anybody on here knows if you can 00:46:08.080 --> 00:46:11.336 do it through a student contract? 00:46:11.360 --> 00:46:15.256 Directly to the student? You can’t do it through 00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:20.720 a contract agency, like a Public Land Corps agency. 00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:23.040 You can’t have them hire international students for you. 00:46:23.040 --> 00:46:26.296 We can’t hire international students in any way. 00:46:26.320 --> 00:46:29.200 I don’t know if anybody knows if you can give a contract to 00:46:29.200 --> 00:46:32.480 an international student. That is a challenge. 00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:36.000 - You know, there are other ways, you know, speaking from the center 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:39.200 perspective, of engaging international students through external co-ops, 00:46:39.200 --> 00:46:41.840 but I was kind of wondering about the YES program in particular. 00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:43.840 Things that you manage. - Yeah. No, we don’t – we don’t – 00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:45.680 we have not … - Okay. 00:46:45.680 --> 00:46:48.160 - … cracked that nut. [chuckles] - Okay. Well, thanks. 00:46:48.160 --> 00:46:49.520 - [laughs] - And, again, anything we can 00:46:49.520 --> 00:46:52.640 do virtually. Great presentation. And thank you for all your activities. 00:46:52.640 --> 00:46:54.720 - Thank you. I like that suggestion of sending out 00:46:54.720 --> 00:46:58.176 a tip list about virtual things. - Yeah. 00:46:59.269 --> 00:47:03.280 - That’s great. And, speaking of tip lists, you’ve shared your 00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:05.520 PowerPoint with me. Would you be okay with me 00:47:05.520 --> 00:47:07.840 sharing this with the – the PowerPoint with the center? 00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:10.320 I think there are a lot of great resources that you summarized in there. 00:47:10.320 --> 00:47:14.296 - Absolutely. - That would – okay, that’d be great. 00:47:14.320 --> 00:47:17.680 So, let’s see. There’s a quick question from Andy Michael, which – oops. 00:47:17.680 --> 00:47:20.480 Just scrolled past. Which is, what programs are good 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:24.480 for interns that work year-round for a few to several hours per week 00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:27.832 as opposed to full-time during the summer? 00:47:27.832 --> 00:47:32.640 - So, two things are good for that. The Virtual Student Federal Service 00:47:32.640 --> 00:47:37.120 is expected to be about 10 hours a week year-round – or, not year-round, 00:47:37.120 --> 00:47:40.720 but during the school year. It is a volunteer internship, 00:47:40.720 --> 00:47:49.040 and the way that it works is, you build a project description 00:47:49.040 --> 00:47:53.040 in the State Department website in about May or June – 00:47:53.040 --> 00:47:56.400 May-to-June timeframe. The students apply in July. 00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:00.160 You interview and choose students and agree for them to work for you. 00:48:00.160 --> 00:48:04.560 So that’s really great. It is not convertible in any way to a hire. 00:48:04.560 --> 00:48:09.976 You can also use the Pathways Internship Program to hire students. 00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:13.600 And those students are convertible at the end of their internship, 00:48:13.600 --> 00:48:17.440 and so you can certainly work with them a few hours a week through the 00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:21.680 school year and then keep the same ones on longer in the summer. 00:48:21.680 --> 00:48:25.816 Those are, of course, paid internships, and they have to be advertised 00:48:25.840 --> 00:48:28.605 and hired through the Pathways Program. 00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:36.960 One of the challenges that Pathways has had always is the nationalization 00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:40.480 of that program and the fact that you can advertise something and say 00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:43.840 you want a student to come – in Pasadena to come and work for you, 00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:46.640 and you’re going to get applications from all over the country from people 00:48:46.640 --> 00:48:49.722 who aren’t going to come to school in Pasadena. 00:48:49.754 --> 00:48:55.096 One of the things we’re working on in that Federal Coordination of STEM 00:48:55.120 --> 00:48:59.440 programs is to get the Office of Personnel Management to change 00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:06.640 the guidance on student internships and allow us to advertise locally 00:49:06.640 --> 00:49:10.800 and choose on a much – from a much smaller pool. 00:49:10.800 --> 00:49:15.040 So we haven’t gotten them to make a change yet. 00:49:15.040 --> 00:49:18.160 We were sort of hoping, at the end of the Trump administration, 00:49:18.160 --> 00:49:21.040 when he was trying to impress people that he was good with jobs, 00:49:21.040 --> 00:49:25.040 that they would make that change. But they turned is down. [laughs] 00:49:25.040 --> 00:49:29.040 So maybe in the new administration, as we try to create more jobs 00:49:29.040 --> 00:49:33.416 for students, we’ll be able to get a little more hiring flexibility 00:49:33.440 --> 00:49:35.714 because that would be very helpful. 00:49:37.621 --> 00:49:43.200 - Thanks. That’s a nice answer. The – let’s see. There’s a question from 00:49:43.200 --> 00:49:46.800 Clara Yoon, and then we’ll go to Steve DeLong, who has his hand up. 00:49:46.800 --> 00:49:49.200 Clara, would you like to ask this question yourself? 00:49:49.200 --> 00:49:51.316 Or I can do it. 00:49:53.972 --> 00:49:55.792 - Yeah, go ahead, Austin. I’ll … 00:49:55.792 --> 00:49:57.680 - Okay. I’ll do it since you wrote it out already. 00:49:57.680 --> 00:50:00.800 So, thanks for the great talk, Eleanour. What are your thoughts on expanding 00:50:00.800 --> 00:50:03.760 the USGS internship pool to older adults who have not 00:50:03.760 --> 00:50:06.480 been in school for years? For example, people who learned 00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:09.280 about and developed an interest in geosciences later in life, 00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:13.336 career changers, people who were laid off from other industries? 00:50:13.360 --> 00:50:16.720 Would that help improve diversity efforts, or is the best thing to focus 00:50:16.720 --> 00:50:21.683 on students enrolled in school? - Well, that’s such a good question. 00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:29.280 The challenge is the ways that we’re allowed to hire. 00:50:29.280 --> 00:50:34.400 So one of the things that really works for the NAGT – the cooperative summer 00:50:34.400 --> 00:50:38.000 field training program is that we have a partner who nominates qualified 00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:43.656 students, and that allows us to then individually hire this particular student. 00:50:43.680 --> 00:50:47.200 It’s more complicated when you’re talking about people 00:50:47.200 --> 00:50:50.880 who aren’t in school. We’d have to – the easiest way 00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:55.256 to do it, in terms of the hiring action, would be to find another partner 00:50:55.280 --> 00:50:58.400 who could be a nominator. Some group that we’re working with. 00:50:58.400 --> 00:51:07.520 So, for example, if there is a program at AGU or GSA or one of – another 00:51:07.520 --> 00:51:12.400 professional society that works with students – or, older people coming back 00:51:12.400 --> 00:51:16.640 into this profession at a different time in their career, that group could 00:51:16.640 --> 00:51:19.200 become a nominating group. That’s the easiest way, 00:51:19.200 --> 00:51:23.096 from a hiring action point of view, to get something like that set up. 00:51:23.120 --> 00:51:28.400 I’m also really hopeful that there might be a stimulus package coming out of 00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:32.080 the pandemic as part of economic recovery that will allow us to 00:51:32.080 --> 00:51:36.800 do a lot more hiring of interns. I’m really worried about losing 00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:41.200 this generation of young scientists to this economic disaster. 00:51:41.200 --> 00:51:45.920 And so that’s a really good thing to bear in mind if we do get the 00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:49.600 opportunity to build new programs as part of economic recovery. 00:51:49.600 --> 00:51:52.097 I love that suggestion. 00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:56.560 - Thanks for the answer, Eleanour. You’re clearly the right resource 00:51:56.560 --> 00:51:58.560 to go to with these questions. [laughter] 00:51:58.560 --> 00:52:02.240 Full of ideas about this. So let’s let Steve chime in 00:52:02.240 --> 00:52:04.550 with his question. Steve DeLong. 00:52:04.590 --> 00:52:08.400 - Sure, thanks. First, I wanted to say thanks to Eleanour. 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:13.336 She was – she’s been really helpful in our center’s efforts to stand up 00:52:13.360 --> 00:52:16.640 programs that are responsive to the JEDI objectives. 00:52:16.640 --> 00:52:19.120 And she was the first person that I called when we started doing that. 00:52:19.120 --> 00:52:23.440 So she’s really helped us a lot. So I really appreciate that level 00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:25.760 of connection that we already have with the center. 00:52:25.760 --> 00:52:28.400 I have a couple questions. The first one is maybe kind of vague, 00:52:28.400 --> 00:52:32.480 and I just wonder if you could talk a little bit more about how we 00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:36.560 bring in interns that are not always – have the longest résumé or the 00:52:36.560 --> 00:52:41.280 most accomplished students in the – in the pile of applications. 00:52:41.280 --> 00:52:46.160 You know, you’ve talked about how we need to think about – you know, 00:52:46.160 --> 00:52:49.760 what’s the sort of – the mutual benefit, or the benefit, to the applicants and 00:52:49.760 --> 00:52:53.416 the USGS in how we choose. But do you have sort of practical 00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:57.040 suggestions for how, when we have a pile of résumés or resources, 00:52:57.040 --> 00:53:03.600 we make decisions that are beneficial to the USGS and really help us achieve 00:53:03.600 --> 00:53:08.190 some of these objectives of diversifying the geosciences? 00:53:08.214 --> 00:53:10.696 - Yeah, I’ve got a couple of suggestions about that. 00:53:10.720 --> 00:53:16.105 It depends a little bit on the scope of the hire that you’re doing. 00:53:16.441 --> 00:53:22.080 And who’s making the decision. So it’s sometimes common to have a 00:53:22.080 --> 00:53:26.000 committee that looks over applications. And, you know, as scientists, we love – 00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:29.920 we love numbers, so people will make a rubric and get the scores. 00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:33.040 And, of course, the highest scores are going to be those résumés that 00:53:33.040 --> 00:53:37.960 [chuckles] accumulate a lot of privilege. So throw the rubric out is a good start. 00:53:37.996 --> 00:53:42.480 Another thing that works really well, if you’ve got a hiring committee and then 00:53:42.480 --> 00:53:46.000 a – you know, a decision-maker, is to ask the committee for an unranked list. 00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:51.440 You want to know who’s qualified. And, you know, you might have 00:53:51.440 --> 00:53:54.800 people who try to slip you a – you know, a line – we really like 00:53:54.800 --> 00:53:59.200 this person best, but – you asked for unranked, but we really like this person. 00:53:59.200 --> 00:54:05.040 If you pay attention, you’ll see that person is almost always the guy that’s 00:54:05.040 --> 00:54:07.200 most like everybody else who’s already there. [chuckles] 00:54:07.200 --> 00:54:12.400 And so, if you – a bold hiring manager can just say, thank you for your input 00:54:12.400 --> 00:54:16.456 and go to the number two or three person who’s also highly qualified. 00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:20.000 And another thing that you could do, if you’re hiring a bunch of people, 00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.960 is to do sort of a combination of things. I kind of call it a draft pick. [chuckles] 00:54:24.960 --> 00:54:31.040 So, if you – if you’re hiring six or eight or 10 interns in a summer, then, 00:54:31.040 --> 00:54:34.320 you know, go ahead and rank them and pick all the highly qualified ones, 00:54:34.320 --> 00:54:41.256 but leave at least two or three slots open for individuals on the committee to say, 00:54:41.280 --> 00:54:44.480 I want to pick this person. They don’t have the highest grade point average. 00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:48.640 They don’t have the highest this or that. But what I see in there that I’m really 00:54:48.640 --> 00:54:53.120 attracted to is – you know, is this statement here or this experience there. 00:54:53.120 --> 00:54:56.880 And so let’s give that person a shot. And so that – you know, giving 00:54:56.880 --> 00:55:00.960 everybody on the committee a draft pick to choose somebody who might not 00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:04.427 be ranked quite so high but might have other things to bring to the table 00:55:04.427 --> 00:55:09.534 is another really useful way to pull in more diversity. 00:55:09.558 --> 00:55:13.496 - Thanks. And then, if I could just have one more quick question. 00:55:13.520 --> 00:55:16.480 One of the things we’re trying to do in the center is expand these efforts 00:55:16.480 --> 00:55:20.400 to our – in our admin and our IT and our operational folks. 00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:24.400 We have lots of people in our center who – you know, they drive trucks to 00:55:24.400 --> 00:55:26.160 the top of mountains and install radio equipment. 00:55:26.160 --> 00:55:27.120 - Mm-hmm. - And that doesn’t necessarily – 00:55:27.120 --> 00:55:29.440 you know, you don’t see that on someone’s college résumé, 00:55:29.440 --> 00:55:32.696 whether they’re good at that sort of thing. 00:55:32.720 --> 00:55:35.760 But we know there’s a lot of talent out there. 00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:38.960 Do you have any suggestions for how we meet these objectives while bringing 00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:44.792 in people for those other roles that aren’t so research-oriented in our center? 00:55:46.480 --> 00:55:49.761 - I don’t know if it would be that different, honestly. 00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:54.560 The other thing you can do is really think about where you’re recruiting, 00:55:54.560 --> 00:55:58.456 where you’re advertising this thing, so you get a really diverse pool. 00:55:58.480 --> 00:56:04.720 And that’s a important first step, that you’re not just throwing it out 00:56:04.720 --> 00:56:10.400 on USAJobs, but you’re also going to a job fair or showing up at the 00:56:10.400 --> 00:56:15.680 community college, reaching out to the classroom or the teacher that you know 00:56:15.680 --> 00:56:20.296 is teaching the kind of thing you want your next – your next hires to know. 00:56:20.320 --> 00:56:23.280 Those kinds of outreaches can help you find really good people, 00:56:23.280 --> 00:56:27.056 too, that might not necessarily stumble upon you. 00:56:28.066 --> 00:56:29.840 - Thanks. 00:56:33.347 --> 00:56:35.920 - Thanks, Eleanour. This is just really excellent information, 00:56:35.920 --> 00:56:38.720 and the resources you’re laying out and the recommendations you’re 00:56:38.720 --> 00:56:42.136 giving are extremely valuable for us. And I’m really excited about that. 00:56:42.136 --> 00:56:45.120 - Great. - There’s one more question 00:56:45.120 --> 00:56:48.080 remaining in the chat. If anyone else has last things – 00:56:48.080 --> 00:56:50.216 we got a second one. 00:56:50.240 --> 00:56:53.680 So the – let’s see, Devin McPhillips asks, can you offer some examples 00:56:53.680 --> 00:56:57.760 of how institutional partnerships are used – so the – are used with, 00:56:57.760 --> 00:57:01.440 like, minority-serving institutions, for example, where is the tipping point 00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:06.621 for a formal partnership versus just interactions and one-off internships. 00:57:06.621 --> 00:57:08.941 - Oh, that’s a really great question. 00:57:10.160 --> 00:57:17.016 So the partnerships are a two-way street. 00:57:17.040 --> 00:57:24.856 And it’s really important, actually, to have that because I think that 00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:30.160 minority institutions are really used to people kind of coming in 00:57:30.160 --> 00:57:37.840 and using them [laughs], I’ll just say, without really offering much in return. 00:57:37.840 --> 00:57:42.400 So, you know, somebody is writing a grant proposal, and they need to 00:57:42.400 --> 00:57:49.040 say something about their broadening participation goals. 00:57:49.040 --> 00:57:52.320 And so they come to a – they come to a diverse organization and say, 00:57:52.320 --> 00:57:54.320 hey, we want to use you. But they don’t actually provide 00:57:54.320 --> 00:57:57.200 anything for that organization. So that’s the first step. 00:57:57.200 --> 00:58:01.040 Think about what you can give to them. And one thing that’s been really 00:58:01.040 --> 00:58:06.240 successful in – that CCNY does is they have a monthly speaker series 00:58:06.240 --> 00:58:08.960 of USGS scientists. The first Friday of every month, 00:58:08.960 --> 00:58:14.480 a USGS scientist shows up on campus, before pandemic, and gives a talk 00:58:14.480 --> 00:58:18.400 about their science and meets with the students, has lunch with the 00:58:18.400 --> 00:58:24.375 students and the faculty, spends a few hours there engaging with 00:58:24.400 --> 00:58:30.720 the faculty and the student body. And then builds those relationships 00:58:30.720 --> 00:58:34.720 and understanding with the faculty and the student body, so when it 00:58:34.720 --> 00:58:38.776 comes time to say, you know, we’d really like to hire some interns, 00:58:38.800 --> 00:58:41.920 you have a relationship with them. The faculty know the kinds of 00:58:41.920 --> 00:58:47.440 things USGS is looking for. You know – you trust them to point 00:58:47.440 --> 00:58:50.880 you towards really good students. So that kind of interaction can 00:58:50.880 --> 00:58:56.080 be really healthy. And I think, if you are – if your center is looking to 00:58:56.080 --> 00:59:01.440 build a relationship, you know, find some with a really good, 00:59:01.440 --> 00:59:05.200 diverse student body that also is teaching the skills that you 00:59:05.200 --> 00:59:07.920 want those students to have. And then there’s all kinds of things 00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:12.480 you could do – not just a lecture series, but maybe you teach a couple 00:59:12.480 --> 00:59:18.880 of sessions in a course. They’re having a course in, you know, 00:59:18.880 --> 00:59:23.016 earthquake science, and you go in, and you teach about the newest 00:59:23.040 --> 00:59:26.640 software that does analysis of earthquake waves or 00:59:26.640 --> 00:59:29.280 something like that. So there’s ways to be really 00:59:29.280 --> 00:59:33.760 deeply engaged and get to know the students and the faculty well. 00:59:33.760 --> 00:59:38.000 And I think that’s a really good best practice for building those institutional 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:42.160 relationships that can lead to, you know, a longstanding stream 00:59:42.160 --> 00:59:45.840 of good talent coming towards you. 00:59:46.792 --> 00:59:49.600 - Thanks. Those are really excellent recommendations to sort of expand 00:59:49.600 --> 00:59:53.200 the scope of what you do beyond just stepping in and lecturing in a 00:59:53.200 --> 00:59:56.320 classroom and really start to engage. And I think, in much the same way 00:59:56.320 --> 00:59:59.520 that you are conveying to us what many of these resources are in the 00:59:59.520 --> 01:00:03.440 scope of bringing people onto the USGS, we can go on and, 01:00:03.440 --> 01:00:06.000 armed with those resources, sort of propagate that information 01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:09.920 to other institutional would-be partners and such. 01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:11.840 - Mm-hmm. - There are just a couple 01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:14.720 final comments. One from Mike Blanpied. 01:00:14.720 --> 01:00:19.440 Great answer. It reminds me of a college admissions official who said that they 01:00:19.440 --> 01:00:22.960 have a group read a dozen applications, then they turn them over and have 01:00:22.960 --> 01:00:25.736 group conversations about which ones they remember. 01:00:25.760 --> 01:00:31.096 And those that – the ones they remember are ones that stood out, 01:00:31.120 --> 01:00:33.816 often in ways other than the high scores. 01:00:33.840 --> 01:00:40.160 And so a sort of follow-up comment, or related, is this – Mark Waldrop says, 01:00:40.160 --> 01:00:42.160 I love the résumés are accumulators of privilege. 01:00:42.160 --> 01:00:45.840 And I think that is, indeed, a pretty important takeaway point 01:00:45.840 --> 01:00:50.800 that is a sort of undeniable point that you make that is worth everyone 01:00:50.800 --> 01:00:54.776 keeping in mind all the time. Because we do find ourselves 01:00:54.800 --> 01:00:58.080 stuck to following sort of rubrics and numerical measures of things. 01:00:58.080 --> 01:01:01.680 - Mm-hmm. - So thank you for arming us 01:01:01.680 --> 01:01:06.136 with that perspective about how to go into these issues. 01:01:06.160 --> 01:01:08.120 So I think, with that, there are no more questions in the chat 01:01:08.120 --> 01:01:12.160 and no more hands up. This has been a completely fabulous 01:01:12.160 --> 01:01:14.160 and excellent presentation and discussion. 01:01:14.160 --> 01:01:17.760 So I think everyone should sort of unmute and maybe 01:01:17.760 --> 01:01:20.240 turn your cameras on. We can thank Eleanour with a round 01:01:20.240 --> 01:01:25.277 of applause for talking to us. Thanks very much. 01:01:25.277 --> 01:01:26.308 - You’re welcome. Glad to be here. 01:01:26.308 --> 01:01:27.651 [applause] 01:01:27.651 --> 01:01:31.120 - And, with that, this will conclude the formal seminar. 01:01:31.120 --> 01:01:35.280 So we can stop the recording. But, as I said earlier, anyone who is – 01:01:35.280 --> 01:01:39.280 who would like can stay on, continue the discussion, 01:01:39.280 --> 01:01:41.760 and do a little meet-and-greet here. So thanks.