Any donation amount is welcome and will help a talented minority or disadvantaged student reach their potential
All donations are tax deductible
CSUN GEMS Program Mission: This program provides
community building, academic and research support to encourage and improve the geological experience of disadvantaged and underrepresented minority (URM) students, such as Hispanic American, Latinx, Black, and Native American students at CSUN in the Department of Geological Sciences. The CSUN GEMS program seeks to advance minority and disadvantaged students to successfully complete their education. We provide research and hands-on lab and field experience for improved job and graduate school success.
GEMS 3 Level Support Structure (Annual Support Needed)
I. Peer Team Mentorship ($18,000)
Creates support network for minority students who often feel isolated
or they don't belong in traditional academic science environment.
(Funds requested to support mentors and activities)
Coffee hour monthly
Team support to combat systemic racism
Build a resume
Write a personal statement
Fieldtrip Guide in GEOL 101 classes
Lead outreach activites with local highschools
Graduate and senior students serve as mentors
II. Academic Support ($3,000)
Provide tutoring and tips to improve grades and scholastic performance. (Financial support for workshop lunches and speaker series)
Tutoring in Math and Chemistry (provided by CSUN)
Monthly Workshops
Discussions and GEMS Speaker Series: Solutions to Systemic Racism
School / life balance and time management
How to succeed in a large class
Finding peer support in classes
III. Student Research Support ($360,000)
Encourage GEM undergraduate students to partcipate in undergraduate research. Research supports $10,000 for each GEM student to work fulltime in Summer and Winter breaks and 5 hrs/week during school year. Support allows students to quit part time jobs and focus 100% on school academics and research which are mutually relevant and often interactive. This level of support has been shown (see below) to increase GPA significantly, job prospects, and graduate school success. Research support is independent from
financial aid. Funds support 10 faculty research advisors at ½ monthly summer salary.
40+ weeks annual hands-on experience in labs, with analytical equipment,
computer software, and field work for future job and graduate careers
Research shown to improve GPA and future success in jobs, graduate schools
(e.g. Fechheimer et al., 2011; Eagen et al., 2013).
GEMS encourages Sophomores, Juniors, & Seniors to get involved in research
Named Scholarship: 1 GEM Master's Student (Tuition, Research Stipend, ($30,000/yr)
Named Endowment to provide total support for CSUN GEMS Program for 30
minority or disadvantaged students per year in perpetuity ($9,000,000)
92% of funds for GEM student support. 8% of funds for Department of Geological Sciences faculty research training time investment. CSUN GEMS Director, Dr. Dayanthie Weeraratne, donates her time as a passionate CSUN faculty member.
History and demonstrated success of the CSUN GEMS Program
2010. CSUN GEMS program began in 2010 as one of two parts of an NSF CAREER grant to Dr. Dayanthie Weeraratne to do research and educational outreach to geophysics and geology CSUN students. Partial support also contributed to GEM students by Penn State (NSF OEDG grant) and energy companies.
B.S. Graduates (30 + 15 in progress)
Advanced to graduate schools M.S. or Ph.D. after GEMS (15)
Hired to industry jobs after GEMS (15)
2017. NSF CAREER grant ended
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2019. Penn State NSF OEDG grant ended
2020-present CSUN GEMS program currently running with no funding. Most GEMS students work 1-2 part times jobs. Student grades and advancement suffers without financial support to reduce work hours outside of school.
The goal of the GEM program is to support the high percentage (see Table below) of underrepresented minority students (URM) at the undergraduate level (high percentage at CSUN nationally) in order to give them a better chance at advancing to the graduate student and faculty levels where the URM populations are low nationally. Diversity at the highest levels improves equal representation but has also been shown to improve diversity of ideas, perspective, and more innovative discoveries (e.g. Hofstra et al., 2020).
CSUN Geological Sciences .........
URM .....
White
Faculty (2020)
8%
77%
Graduate Students (2020)
20%
68%
Undergraduate Students (2019)
52%
24%
DONATE HERE (LINK coming soon! contact: Dr. Dayanthie Weeraratne dsw@csun.edu)
