Environmental Health Research for Teachers and High School Students (EARTH) in the Great Northern Plains

Project Summary The mission of this application is to develop a structured, on-site summer environmental health sciences research program for high school teachers and students from three rural, Indigenous communities in the Northern Plains. The proposed program is a collaboration between the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH) Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) and Missouri Breaks Industries Research Inc. (MBIRI), an American Indian-owned research center serving these Indigenous communities and others in the Northern Plains. We propose the EARTH program (Environmental HeAlth Sciences Research for Teachers and High School Students), to establish a structured summer environmental health sciences (EHS) research program for high school teachers and students in these three communities. Research projects will be locally relevant and reflect the priorities and values of the communities, leveraging EHS research that is already taking place in these communities through collaboration with Columbia University and MBIRI researchers. One teacher-student group from each community, comprised of one science teacher and 2-4 highly motivated high school students, will be actively mentored through an EHS summer research project with support from expert research mentors from both Columbia University and MBIRI. Research mentor teams will provide structured workshops and educational training to teachers and students, and assist teams in developing and executing the research project over the course of the summer through structured meetings. EARTH teacher-student teams from all three communities will meet with the Program Directors and research mentors three times a week for educational seminars relevant to conducting EHS research, science communication, and research translation, and to share research progress updates in collaborative workshops. By the end of the summer period, teacher- student teams will have prepared formal scientific presentations and infographics of their projects to be presented at the EARTH Mini Symposium. Teams will also present their findings to the community advisory group at MBIRI, to their classrooms during the following school year, and at MBIRI’s annual Research Symposium in the following spring. Teachers will present their findings in virtual academic seminars at Columbia University. In addition to these research and communication experiences, students will receive substantial mentorship and support in preparing applications for undergraduate/training school programs and employment opportunities in EHS/STEM. Teachers will also receive support to develop curriculum programs that they can implement in their classrooms. By engaging high school students early in their training and exposing them to the broad range of environmental health disciplines, we seek to support students from Indigenous communities to pursue careers and further education in environmental health sciences.