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AGU 2023 Conference

AGU Logo Advancing Earth and Space Science

Date

-
San Francisco, CA

December 11 - 15, 2023

San Francisco, CA

https://www.agu.org/fall-meeting

NISE Network projects will be included in the following concurrent sessions and workshops:


SCIWS14 - Communicating a Deeper Understanding of Our Earth and Beyond
In recent years, there has been a significant decrease in trust towards the scientific community. This decline has necessitated increased opportunities for the general public to engage with discipline experts, content, and experiences that can bridge the gap between knowledge creation and consumption. The active engagement of people of all ages in science and STEM fields is critical for enhancing their comprehension of the world around us. This workshop is designed to equip these subject matter experts (SMEs) with effective science communication strategies and techniques for engaging non-specialist audiences.

Participants will learn from science communications experts about how to create scientific messaging that is inclusive and accessible for a wide variety of audiences. Examples include creating relational introductions, framing your message around topics that interest your audience, identifying jargon in your message, and using metaphor to explain complex or technical issues. They will then have the opportunity to practice applying effective communication techniques with the ultimate goal of empowering these SMEs to confidently communicate their research results and methods to audiences of all backgrounds. 

This workshop is ideal for SMEs who are interested in expanding their science communication skills and want to engage with a growing community of scientists who share a passion for communicating their science with the world. In addition, the session will feature an introduction to the NASA SciAct portfolio of projects, many of which have on-going ways for SMEs to contribute to their education and outreach work. There are also opportunities for SMEs to apply for and receive funding for certain SciAct work.

This workshop is made possible by funding from the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) program through the NASA SMD Community of Practice for Education (SCoPE) project.


ED54A-01 Partnerships and Programs to Promote Inclusion and Foster STEM Identity for Diverse LearnersIn this presentation, we will discuss a national program to promote inclusion in learning about Earth and space science and foster stem identity for diverse learners in 99 locations across the United States. In collaboration with NASA, the National Informal STEM Education Network supported a professional learning community for informal educators at science centers and museums. Professionals from selected organizations participated in the program’s six-unit professional development curriculum. Then, each organization developed and implemented a project designed to align with their organization’s mission and broaden and deepen participation by diverse groups in their local community. Presenters will share overarching principles and practices that the learning community found successful, examples of projects and partnerships from the 99 participating partner sites, and evaluation findings.

Projects included new and expanded public programs, educational programs, public events, installations and exhibits, professional development for museum staff and volunteers, and collaborations with community-based or youth-serving organizations. Audiences included groups such as rural communities, girls, learners with disabilities, and underserved racial and ethnic groups. STEM topics were selected to be relevant and engaging to target audiences and align with NASA science disciplines.


ED11A-07 Equitable Partnerships to Broaden and Deepen Participation of Latiné Communities in Earth and Space Science
Presenters will share their experiences as part of a community of practice that is co-creating learning experiences related to Earth and space science with Latiné learners in six locations in the US-Mexico border states: San Diego, CA; Berkeley/Hayward, CA; Phoenix metro area, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Brownsville, TX; and Houston, TX. Each of these sites has a local partnership among at least two organizations: an educational organization that is committed to broadening and deepening participation in STEM; and a community-based organization that is embedded in one or more local Latiné communities. Each site has defined its own goals (that are aligned with overarching project goals) and has its own plan of action that the partners have defined together. The team is intentionally using a process that is focused on developing long-term relationships among STEM educational organizations and Latiné communities, centering community priorities and assets, and fostering mutual learning among all participants. Our presentation will focus on the processes of establishing trust and working together from the beginning in an equitable collaboration. We will share the perspectives of project leadership, as well as perspectives from different participating organizations and in different roles. In particular, we will share principles and practices for diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion, and belonging that our sites are finding successful; methods for a practitioner-based process called team-based inquiry that each site is using to identify goals, define activities, and track progress; and tips for maintaining healthy communication and resolving challenges. This project is part of NASA’s Science Activation program. We also have a close relationship with a related effort based in Raleigh/Durham, NC, and we can share insights that the teams have gained from providing structured opportunities to share approaches and resources across two different geographic areas.


NH52A-05 Mapping Spatially Compounding Hazards across a North Carolina County using Random Forest
Flooding and heat waves are the deadliest weather-related natural hazards nationally, yet their co-occurrence in space and time remains poorly understood. The knowledge gained by identifying the predominant geospatial drivers of each hazard could improve understanding of the processes forming and exacerbating the compound hazardAdditionally, information concerning where these two hazards overlap when they do co-occur would help organize proactive hazard planning and reactive emergency response. In this study, we leverage a novel dataset of flood service requests (2004-2021), NOAA Heat Watch measurements (July 2021), and NFIP claims (1978-2021) to identify hotspots of flood and heat wave hazards in Durham, NC. We built two Random Forest machine learning models to independently predict each hazard using underlying geospatial datasets (e.g., building density, tree canopy, DEM). Our models rank the importance of each geospatial dataset for hazard prediction, which suggests that building density is among the most important predictors of each hazard. We find that hazard hotspots aggregate among historically redlined communities and communities adjacent to urban highway corridors. Our results can be used to simplify the development of compound hazard models by identifying geospatial datasets which primarily control hazard formation. The reproducibility of this modeling framework can also inform compound hazard planning efforts in Durham and elsewhere: resulting maps can educate the community on their current exposure and help identify potential adaptation and mitigation strategies. This work demonstrates the successful inclusion of a novel dataset, maintained by citizen science efforts, for compound hazard research that also benefits the community.

  • Friday, 15 December 2023, 14:05 - 14:15
  • 2010 - West (Level 2, West, Moscone Center)
  • https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm23/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1352758
    • Hunter Carey Quintal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • Helena Garcia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • Max Cawley, Museum of Life and Science
    • Antonia Sebastian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

INV14A-03 Centering Diverse Ways of Knowing and Health Equity in a Tribal Climate Action Plan: Insights from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) has been working across tribal government divisions and with community partners to ensure the protection and conservation of the natural environment by putting forth a revised 100-year strategic vision for the 21st Century. Following the passing of a Tribal Resolution, the Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has entered a 5-year partnership with the NC State’s Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, Health, and Equity (C3HE), a NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnership. The goal of the partnership is to develop a climate action plan and enhance tribal capacity to integrate climate into all aspects of governance. This tribal-led community partnership will meaningfully involve EBCI tribal leaders and community members to identify and prioritize climate hazards and resilience solutions. The project will cover the following geographic regions: Cherokee, NC and Qualla Boundary. In this presentation, we will share lessons learned on how to (1) translate climate change into a Cherokee phrase with cultural value and importance; (2) ground a climate adaption plan through oral history interviews with first language speakers and Elders; and (3) integrate health equity into the planning process.

  • Monday, 11 December 2023, 19:30 - 19:45
  • 160 - South (Upper Mezzanine, South, Moscone Center)
  • https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm23/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1417429
    • Jen Runkle, North Carolina State University

    • Katie Tiger, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Government

    • Joey Owle, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Government

    • Max Cawley, Museum of Life and Science

    • Charlie Reed, North Carolina State University Raleigh

    • Trista Welch, North Carolina State University Raleigh

    • Kathie Dello, State Climate Office of North Carolina

    • Louie Rivers, North Carolina State University Raleigh
    • Haven Cashwell, Auburn University