‘BIPOC’ and ‘LGBTQ+’ Applicants Sought For Earthquake Research Fellowships

‘BIPOC’ and ‘LGBTQ+’ Applicants Sought For Earthquake Research Fellowships

A taxpayer-funded geoscience research center is specifically seeking applications from racial and sexual minorities for its fellowships.

The Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT) is currently offering grants of up to $1,000 to support “U.S. graduate students and postdocs pursuing careers in earthquake science.”

The professional development grants are awarded “twice yearly…with priority given to BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQ+, first-generation students, and those attending or presenting at their first in-person event,” according to its listing on ProFellow. BIPOC means “black, indigenous, and people of color.”

Curiously, the explicit discriminatory language is not present on the University of Oregon-linked center’s public facing website.

“Preference will also be given to first-time conference or event attendees, those attending in-person, and those presenting,” the center’s fellowship states.

The included language is relatively benign:

CRESCENT offers fellowships to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for travel to conferences, workshops, or training courses focused on professional development. This effort seeks to help candidates strengthen the presentation of their skills and accomplishments in anticipation of entering the workforce. Appropriate professional development events should provide information, skill development, and networking opportunities that help participants prepare for careers in earthquake science

However, applicants are also encouraged to discuss “How receiving the fellowship would reduce barriers to participation in the conference or event.”

Furthermore, the fellowship is listed under the center’s page about promoting “Geoscience education and inclusion.”

The “mission statement” for this “pillar” of the center’s work says “[p]rogress on the challenges facing earthquake hazards research, both in the short- and long-term, requires concerted focus on preparing and diversifying the next generation workforce.”

Specifically, this DEI initiative focuses on “providing research and training opportunities for aspiring geoscientists from minoritized and other underrepresented groups.”

The geoscience center also offers other diversity initiatives that are clearly focused on minorities.

The center lists other grants and mentoring opportunities that help it “[t]o achieve our vision of a diverse future geoscience workforce.”

To no surprise, the earthquake research center also lists its own land acknowledgment and links to that of partner organizations, including Oregon State University, Purdue University, and Western Washington University.

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