The Diversity Climate Network (D-ClimNet) - Recruiting and Retaining Under-represented Students into the Climate Sciences

The Diversity Climate Network (D-ClimNet, http://www.uvm.edu/~dclimnet/) is a 4-year old national partnership among the University of Vermont (UVM), the University of California - Los Angles (UCLA) and the University of Georgia (UGA). With funding from the National Science Foundation, D-ClimNet's primary goal is to create a pipeline of under-represented students from the high school to graduate degree levels. The network is unique in its focus on the climate sciences as well as its commitment to training the next generation of racially and gender diverse climate scientists with an explicit focus on climatology, climate change, and climate policy. The program is a strong complement to other efforts that have broadly focused on pipeline issues related more specifically anchored to meteorology or atmospheric sciences. Students are being recruited from the rural and urban areas of New York City, Los Angeles and Georgia. To date, substantial progress has been made and has been quantified. Herein, we report on (1) the impact of D-ClimNet on minority graduate/professional matriculation within the field, (2) K-16 under-represented students perceptions of climate science information, (3) new mechanisms and outreach tools advanced by the initiative, and (4) new partnerships and pathways forward.