Strengthening Participation in the Atmospheric Sciences: Providing Underrepresented Students with Communication Strategies for Multicultural Mentoring

For about 40 years educators and science practitioners have developed mentoring programs to increase the diversity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, specifically women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Strong mentoring programs are integral to increasing diversity in the atmospheric sciences. Although researchers have evaluated these programs and noted their significance, there is no research about specific communication strategies that can be used by students to optimize these mentoring programs. The Multicultural Mentoring Communication Praxis (MMCP) that was developed to fulfill this gap, and found that STEM faculty mentors utilized open communication, supportive communication, and consistent communication. Particularly, STEM faculty noted that it was difficult to facilitate multicultural mentoring if students were not engaged in consistent communication. However, underrepresented students were not included in the initial study for the development of the MMCP. This study continued previous research to extend the MMCP by surveying and interviewing underrepresented STEM students about their mentoring relationships, and communication strategies that actively encouraged effective multicultural mentoring. Similar to faculty, students relied on supportive communication, but also expressed the need for intercultural communication and developing a communication plan with their mentor. These communication strategies activated multicultural mentoring for students and provided a deeper understanding of their experiences and needs, particularly when discussing diversity issues or challenges, such as discrimination or the significance of building their confidence to succeed in academics and their career. This presentation will review how STEM mentors can provide students with the tools to communicate with their mentors (e.g., supportive communication, intercultural communication, communication plan), and how implementing these communication strategies can facilitate multicultural mentoring and further support underrepresented students in atmospheric sciences.