5.6
NCAR summer undergraduate leadership workshop interests students in research and careers in the sciences
Susan Q. Foster, UCAR, Boulder, CO; and T. Barnes, K. K. Droegemeier, S. Henderson, R. M. Johnson, and R. Munoz
Last June the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) hosted the first Undergraduate Leadership Workshop with the purpose of informing and exciting students about their potential to pursue research and careers in the atmospheric and related sciences. The five-day program presented the 16 participants who represented 15 universities and colleges with a model for leadership through which they could assess the personal and professional traits that contribute to leadership in the sciences. Throughout the workshop, students and scientists shared informal discussions as they explored science topics, laboratories, instrumentation, and computing facilities that support research on weather, climate change, solar dynamics, and the Sun-Earth system. The students gained insights into the breadth of research topics in the atmospheric and related sciences, learned about NCAR's collaborative role with the universities that positively impacts science and society, and provided information and role models for their future graduate and post doctoral studies. The students were expected to present a seminar on their workshop experience when they return to their sponsoring academic department in the fall. It is hoped that the universities will benefit from this program as students link their undergraduate studies to fascinating examples of current research and careers in the sciences. It is also intended that this experience will strengthen each student's commitment to continue studies in the sciences through graduate school. The workshop was coordinated by the Office of Education and Outreach at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
This presentation will summarize the Undergraduate Leadership Workshop activities and what was learned in conducting this prototype program so that it can be even more effective in serving students and their academic institutions in the following year. Information about the NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop is available at http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/ulw/.
Session 5, University Educational Initiatives
Tuesday, 11 February 2003, 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
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