Inaugural IDEA 2.0 midsummer retreat hosted in Morehead City
July 10, 2017
IDEA students outside of the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
On June 27-29, ten undergraduate geoscience students from IE’s IDEA program (Increasing Diversity and Enhancing Academia) traveled to Morehead City with program coordinators Megan Hoert Hughes and Kathleen Gray to participate in the first annual midsummer retreat. The IDEA 2.0 program is a summer and academic year research experience, based at UNC Chapel Hill, for UNC and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) undergraduates interested in careers in marine science, geology, geography, and environmental science. During the retreat, the students toured the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and met with Research Director Dr. Carol Price. The students also collected marine samples in the field with Dr. Joel Fodrie’s team (UNC Institute of Marine Sciences) and were given the opportunity to participate in a focus group about mentoring. As a team building exercise, the students engaged in a cross-cultural communication simulation called BaFa’ BaFa’ with PhD students from the UNC School of Education. This is the first year of a three year program, in partnership with NCCU, and funded through the National Science Foundation’s IUSE: GEOPATHS program (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Pathways into Geoscience).
