Building a geoscience summer bridge program to Recruit Students: Impacts and Lessons Learned

Abstract. Geoscience enrollments are declining at many institutions across the United States despite strong workforce demand. Immersive summer bridge programs are one proposed solution to this issue but are time and resource intensive. Here, we present lessons learned from summer bridge programs from our NSF GEOPAths-funded project, Geoscience Exposure and Training in Texas (GET TX). We received 177 student applications and hosted 32 high school and community college students over three summers. The program focused on water, sediment, paleontology, and geochemistry in southeast and central Texas. To showcase the diversity of geoscience, students were exposed to both field and laboratory work. Most lab and field experiences were within 30 minutes of campus; however, our capstone trip was a two-day excursion to central Texas. Laboratory experiences included: an indoor three-story rock wall; stream table; AR sandbox; groundwater models; and an ICP-AES to analyze water samples. Students observed modern processes in the first half of the program to understand and interpret the historical rock record during the last half. Among the multiple GET TX activities, these summer bridge activities emerged as the most effective strategy for positively influencing student perceptions of geoscience and encouraging enrollment in geoscience majors. As such, we present the program as a model for other geoscience programs seeking to attract students and highlight key lessons learned from its implementation.