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URE OMS 2002
SEA Woodshole, MA

Executive Summary
Sea Education Association
2002 Workshop Details
The Symposium
Expected Benefits
Organizers
Schedule
Participants

Challenger Bank and Roseway Bank Paper

Island Wake Effect on Regional Current Systems of Islands and Atolls in The Central Pacific Paper

Executive Summary

The Sea Education Association (SEA) plans to convene three workshops and a symposium to develop a program to encourage students of under-represented groups to pursue careers in oceanography. Participants in the workshops would be faculty and administrators from minority-serving institutions. The workshop goals would be: a) to learn first-hand about SEA undergraduate program and b)to devise or refine a plan to use the SEA boats and campus to encourage students from minority-serving institutions to pursue careers in ocean sciences. There would be one workshop each year in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The symposium would be held in 2005 and would bring workshop participants back to SEA to review their effectiveness of the program.

SEA provides an unusually effective program that encourages both and understanding of and a commitment to the ocean. Many students go on to careers in ocean-related fields, and a significant number continue to get advanced degrees in oceanography. The program provides a rigorous undergraduate academic experience in an environment that is personally challenging and highly rewarding. In addition, the close quarters on the boat and the teamwork required to operate safely at sea help students understand and accept the strengths and weaknesses of their shipmates and of themselves.

A well-designed SEA program would expose minority students to oceanography and ocean life in a positive light, thereby making careers in ocean sciences more accessible. However, a program designed by SEA alone would not necessarily be attuned to the needs and challenges of minority students, nor would it necessarily have support from minority serving institutions. By drawing its participants from the faculty and administrators of such institutions, the proposed workshops should be able to develop a plan that both fits the needs of minority students that would benefit from the program.