Gender and ethnic diversity within the sciences has been an
issue for many years. Unlike our technical counterpart,
engineering, many students (counselors and their parents) are
not exposed and are unaware of the geosciences and the
opportunities within the field. The lack of exposure is
particularly a problem for women and ethnic minorities. As a
result, students do not choose the geosciences as a major or
career choice as they embark upon their collegiate studies.
Thus, there is still a need to increase the number of women and
people of color enrolled in geoscience programs in the US.
Although there has been a significant increase in the female
population (approximately half of all BS and MS graduates),
ethnic minorities still are under-represented at colleges and
universities, and in the geosciences. There are ways to correct
this problem starting with students in primary school on up. One
way to combat this problem is to establish programs specifically
targeting this issue. An example of a program of this