PARTNERSHIPS: Increasing Research Opportunities in the Atmospheric Sciences for Underrepresented Groups Through International Field Experiences in Senegal

Abstract

common ancestry between African-Americans and West Africans endures even though they were separated by the trans-Atlantic slave trade during the seventeenth through nineteenth centu-ries (Fig. 1a). They also share mutual progress and needs in the sciences and science education. Over the last five decades, the civil rights and indepen-dence movements in the United States and West Africa have helped to promote educational advance-ment for African-Americans and West Africans in science, technology, engineering, and mathemat-ics (STEM). In the atmospheric sciences, the first African-American to receive a doctorate was Charles Anderson in 1960. In 1963, Patrick Obasi was one of the first West African scientists to receive a doctorate in the atmospheric sciences.By all accounts, there is still much work to be done in promoting diversity in our sciences. Consider that for the 31-year period from 1973 to 2004, of the 21,000 Ph.D. degrees awarded in the geosciences, only 111 were conferred to African-Americans. The small number of West African scientists actively participat-ing in the atmospheric science community represents another significant challenge.Meanwhile, growing minority populations in the United States and rapidly increasing populations in West Africa face numerous weather and climate challenges. For example, drying trends in the Sa-hel region of West Africa during the late twentieth century have negatively affected food security, water resources management, and poverty alleviation, and hence development. In the United States, Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent crisis in New Orleans, a predominately African-American city, showed the growing vulnerabilities along our coasts, which have significant populations of minority and impoverished people. Minority populations elsewhere in the United States also face weather and climate threats (e.g., heat waves, drought, severe weather) that might increase because of anthropogenic climate change.These challenges are a strong motive for building scientific capacity for African-Americans and other minorities (Native and Hispanic Americans), as well as West Africans. One lesson from the Hurricane Ka-trina crisis is that cultural considerations often shape safety/welfare responses to environmental hazards. Input from minority scientists may be especially rel-evant in such situations. Minority scientists can play a more active role in conveying life-saving informa-tion to their community. Similarly, in Africa, it is extremely important to develop the human, technical, and physical capacity for prediction and applications (e.g., public health, agriculture, water resources) to address climate change and extreme weather.Increasing the number of African and African-American scientists can be accomplished while also helping to protect these vulnerable populations. One method of doing this involves four steps:a) supporting and increasing institutional capacity building at Historically Black Colleges and Uni-versities (HBCUs) and in West Africa;b) participation in relevant hands-on activities (field campaigns, satellite missions) in the atmospheric sciences;c) adoption of efficient and effective models for sus-taining scientific collaboration and interaction; and