GeoScienceWorld Diversity and Representation Award

GeoScienceWorld is pleased to announce the launch of the GeoScienceWorld Diversity and Representation Award, a new annual scholarship program for graduate students in the geosciences. The awardee will receive $5000 USD and have their winning essay published in GSW’s OA journal, Lithosphere. The goal of this initiative is to lower barriers to participation for graduate students from historically marginalized communities (racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, and/or disabilities) in the Earth Sciences, Planetary, or Earth Science-adjacent degree programs.

Guiding Principles:

• To promote the retention of geoscientists who hold historically excluded identities so the field may benefit from the creative perspectives and contributions of these populations. 
• To mitigate financial obstacles that disproportionately impact geoscientists from historically marginalized groups.
• To amplify voices from historically excluded communities within the geosciences.

Background
Because of the history of cultural hegemony within the natural sciences broadly and the geosciences in specific, individuals from communities outside the white, cisgender, heterosexual, and male dominated culture are significantly underrepresented in geosciences academia compared to population demographics. Multiple studies have demonstrated that the geosciences are one of the least diverse STEM fields. For example, studies find that only 5-10% of geosciences doctorates are earned by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), and less than 4% of tenured or tenure-track geoscience faculty positions are held by BIPOC.
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0519-z
https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-117-2020
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0116-6
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23936-w
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021AV000514

Award Terms
Funds are intended to help awardees pay for expenses related to their education and future careers and awardees are expected to use award funds consistent with the educational purposes of the award. Awardees will be required to submit two follow up forms documenting use of the funds consistent with the intended purposes of the scholarship.  Any published work resulting from the award must acknowledge the award and GSW. Awardees will be provided with an award agreement to be signed by both parties specifying the terms and conditions of the scholarship, including:

• limitation of use of the grant for educational purposes
• the amount/term of grant 
• how the grant will be paid
• any conditions which would require repayment of the grant
• recipient’s reporting and tax obligations
• any published work resulting from the award acknowledge the award and GSW

Eligibility
The GSW Diversity and Representation Award is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who:

• Are graduate students at accredited American institutions within the United States enrolled in an Earth Sciences, Planetary, or Earth Science-adjacent degree program
• Are at least 18 years of age at the time of their submission
• Self-identify as a member of a historically excluded population in Earth, planetary, and adjacent sciences.
• Agree that if selected to receive a grant, and have a U.S. Social Security Number (SSN) or U.S. Tax Identification Number (TIN), will provide it to GSW to facilitate payment of the funds. 

Employees of GeoScienceWorld and the Award Selection Panel, including companies involved in the implementation and execution of the Award, and the immediate families and those living in the same household of the foregoing, are not eligible to enter. Government officials are also not eligible to enter. Entrants may be subject to rules imposed by their institutions or employers relative to their participation in trade promotions and should check with their institutions or employers for any relevant policies. 

Deadlines

The 2024 application process is now closed.

Essay Question
In at least 500 but no more than 800 words, tell us about your vision for the future of the Earth Sciences. What would you like to see happen in terms of equity and sustainability? How do you hope to contribute to this vision? Describe your ambition for your career and the impact you hope to have on earth, planetary, and/or adjacent sciences.

Essays should be original works written for the submission. Each essay will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by GSW. No prior publication or employment record is required, and essays will be judged on the following criteria: your scientific vision (40%), your personal story (30%), and how well you integrate these into a cohesive essay (30%).

We acknowledge that applicants will be at different stages of career development and will have unique trajectories. For this reason, we will consider not only your achievements but your aspirations and how you intend to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Evaluation Rubric
To be used by the Award Editorial Board when evaluating submissions.

Criteria	1 – Beginning  (below standard)	2 – Developing  (meets standard)	3 – Proficient (exceeds standard)	4 – Excellent  (Far exceeds standard)
Content
Science (Do they convey their scientific acumen?)	Talks about their interest in science, but not clearly conveyed why they want to be a scientist.	Clearly states their scientific motivations and fluidly discusses science within their own training.	Displays critical thinking and intellectual curiosity beyond their training and grasps bigger picture of the scientific enterprise.	Lays out a clear research goal and you could see how they would run their lab, or even establish a scientific legacy.
Personal Story  (Do they tell a compelling story of their life experience?)	Only a chronicle of events.	Discussion of overcoming hardships and achieving successes in equal measure. You see the growth of an intellectual.	Deeper self-awareness and the narrative conveys how the personal experiences shape the decisions made.	Discussion of how their life experiences relate to those of others, society, academia, policy, things bigger than themselves.
Structure
Integration  (How well are the different aspects of the essay connected)	Everything is clunky and treated separately.	Achievements and aspirations woven into their life story.	Clear causal trajectory between the past and the future.	You can see how all the elements relate to each other and the greater vision.