Sustainable Land And Water Resources Research Experience For Undergraduates (SLAWR REU): Increasing Diversity in the Earth Sciences through Integrating Different Modes of Scientific Research Storytelling using ESRI Story Maps

Sustainable Land and Water Resources Research Experience for Undergraduates (SLAWR) REU; https://reuslawr.org) advances the National Academies of Sciences’ (2022) vision for interdisciplinary Earth systems science that explores interactions between physical, natural, and social processes through weaving of Indigenous knowledge – which is fundamentally integrative, holistic, and relational – with Western knowledge to advance scientific understanding and support tribal management decisions. The objective is to introduce undergraduate students to Earth systems science via a transformative learning process that centers communities and places participants at the core of the program design. Students are placed on teams at three geographically dispersed sites – including two Native American reservations – and form one research community.

Since 2009 (14 years), the SLAWR REU has supported nearly 218 students to work on research on community-based and tribally-focused (80% tribally-defined projects) research projects. Over the 14 years, SLAWR REU has become one of the most diverse programs in the country (47% Native American, 76% underrepresented, 28% >30 years of age, 26% parents, 51% women, 49% in or graduated from graduate school). These outcomes have been achieved through long-term relationships with Native nations and by providing holistic mentoring that is “student-tailored, culturally-based, and family and community focused” (AICF, 2023).

To support these outcomes, since 2020, the SLAWR REU program has reenvisioned the use of storytelling technologies to allow students to integrate place and culture and their personal life in the REU through ESRI Story Maps. In addition to developing scientific posters, for example the several presented at AGU 2024, we have developed a curriculum around ESRI Story Maps to empower students to integrate themselves into their research stories, emphasizing their cultures, families, and the process of learning they went through over the summer. This presentation describes the program goals - including the recent processes of transitioning personal relationships to institutional relationships - and evaluates participant outcomes in scientific writing and confidence through evaluative data and student products (i.e., ESRI Story Maps and scientific posters).