The AWG Southern Arizona Chapter Receives GSA E-an Zen Fund for Geoscience Outreach Grant

The AWG Southern Arizona Chapter recently received the $1500 GSA E-an Zen Fund for Geoscience Outreach Grant. The AWG Southern Arizona Chapter was selected as one of only two chapters to receive this grant! Learn more about the GSA E-an Zen Fund for Geoscience Outreach Grant here: https://community.geosociety.org/gsocdivision/news/zenfund.

AWG Southern Arizona Chapter President Lydia Bailey writes, "We are very excited to start our community outreach project this year. Our proposed outreach project is partnered with the Women in Science and Engineering Program (WISE), in particular with the Imagine Your STEM Future (IYSF) program run by WISE. IYSF’s goal is to increase interest in STEM education and careers for young women at Desert View High School in Tucson. Our goal is to empower the students and inspire interest in geoscience among female and under-represented minority students by increasing access to active learning opportunities even within the context of remote learning. Geoscience is almost nonexistent in statewide Arizona Science standards until high school, so students enter Desert View High School without a formal education in geosciences and are not given sufficient opportunities to truly engage in that subject material. The grant will fund the cost of take-home soil testing kits for 125 girls, and we will create guided video instructions and handouts for them. Students will learn about soil mineral sources, soil formation, and potential contaminants. They will gain valuable experience in making scientific measurements and analyzing data, and also build their communication skills through presentations of their findings."

For more information about the AWG Southern Arizona Chapter, please visit https://www.geo.arizona.edu/awg/.