Assessing the Barriers to Retention in Atmospheric Science Undergraduate Programs

Atmospheric Science Education Research (ASER) can encompass a variety of subject matters from classroom implementation to institutional dynamics. One important aspect of ASER is researching how students learn and think about atmospheric science. However, what if there are no students to teach or work with? Why are there so few atmospheric science majors overall? What leads students to leave the atmospheric science program? This current research study aims to understand why undergraduate students choose to stay or leave their atmospheric science program by assessing reasons for retention. Currently, there is limited research that focuses specifically on retention of atmospheric science students. Previous work has been done within the geosciences more broadly, however with the emerging ASER field, this is the perfect time to examine the structure of atmospheric science departments more closely. This will allow for improvements not only in the culture of departments, but will hopefully lead to more successful and happy students entering the field upon graduation. A survey has been drafted, with the intent to solicit informal feedback from AMS attendees; it will be disseminated to assess the retention of undergraduate students in 4-year atmospheric science programs across the United States. This survey consists of Likert-scale questions as well as open-ended questions for current and former atmospheric science undergraduate students. Our intent is for this work to serve as a catalyst in learning about perspectives of retention of atmospheric science students. Future work could survey administrators, faculty, and staff to get their perspectives about retention of undergraduate students.