NSF grant supports equity in marine and climate sciences - George Mason University

NSF grant supports equity in marine and climate sciences | George Mason University

The National Science Foundation(NSF) awarded Chrystal George Mwangi, associate professor of higher education at George Mason University, and colleagues a combined $2.3 million to advance collaborations for equity in marine and climate sciences.

The project, titled Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences (ACE-MCS), is a collaborative partnership between multiple institutions, which includes higher education researchers and practitioners Jennifer Johnson of Temple University, Vijay Kanagala of Salem State University, Onjalé Scott Price of the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program, and Christina Yao of University of South Carolina.

As principal investigator, George Mwangi will lead this three-year project to examine what processes are employed for developing equity-driven educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways in marine and climate science. This research project will investigate the Woods Hole Collaborative Network, a Massachusetts-based multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions.

The research team will emphasize Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative inquiry alongside organizational and historical analysis to develop a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) collaborations.

This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities, which supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of STEM education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise.