Fostering the development of Earth data science skills in a diverse community of online learners: A case study of the Earth Data Science Corps

These skills are imperative to harness information contained in a growing volume of complex data to solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Despite the importance of these skills, Earth and Environmental Data Science (EDS) training is not equally accessible, contributing to a lack of diversity in the field.

This creates a critical need for EDS training opportunities designed specifically for underrepresented groups. In response, we developed the Earth Data Science Corps (EDSC) which couples a paid internship for undergraduate students with faculty training to build capacity to teach and learn EDS using Python at smaller Minority Serving Institutions. EDSC faculty participants are further empowered to teach these skills at their home institutions which scales the program beyond the training lead by our team.