By Valeria Jaramillo

Written for the 2022 edition of the UCLA EPSS Department Newsletter, found here: https://epss.ucla.edu/about/newsletters/

When we entered the extended pandemic-related campus shutdown, everyone was deprived of the ability to collaborate, interact, and learn with one another in ways EPSS was accustomed to, presenting significant additional challenges for students. Those starting new undergraduate and graduate programs in Fall 2020 faced a previously unknown, remote learning environment that made connecting with classmates particularly difficult. For incoming transfer students who wanted to discuss which classes they should take, seniors trying to find out about graduate programs, or new graduate students struggling to balance course requirements, teaching, and research, clearly there existed a great need for enhanced interaction and collaboration.

Enter the EPSS Family Mentorship Program (EFMP)! The idea behind EFMP was to build a mutually supportive platform for students at all stages of undergraduate and graduate study. A pilot program was launched in Spring 2021, creating six families with 36 students, ranging from undergraduate freshmen to senior graduate students. Through EFMP, students could connect, share, and learn from each other in areas such as personal wellbeing, academic success, and professional development, while also maintaining a socially cohesive and inclusive community within the department. The program successfully provided networking, learning resources, job and research opportunities, and created many positive memories. As a testament to the popularity of the program, the number of members nearly doubled in Fall 2021, and the inaugural dinner celebration brought a renewed spirit to the department.

We are so proud of everyone’s commitment to meet with their families, join academic and social events, and foster a collaborative and welcoming atmosphere among the EPSS student body. We are grateful for the continued support from our department chair, faculty, staff, and postdocs that have helped us along the way, and we are eager to see the program continue to grow!

Website: https://sites.epss.ucla.edu/efmp/

Instagram: @efmp_ucla

By Saeed Mohanna, Jaahnavee Venkatraman, Hannah Tandy, and Lars Stixrude

Written for the 2022 edition of the UCLA EPSS Department Newsletter, found here: https://epss.ucla.edu/about/newsletters/

The Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) initiative is a project funded by the National Science Foundation that began in January 2021. URGE is motivated, in part, by the events surrounding the death of George Floyd. The closely-aligned Black Lives Matter movement sparked difficult conversations about racism and the need for institutions to move towards active anti-racism. Since geoscience continues to be one of the least diverse STEM disciplines nationally, URGE evolved as an effort to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the geosciences.

Though there is still much work to be done, we are proud to report that EPSS diversity has steadily increased over the past decade; the undergraduate student population has expanded to well over 50% female, with minorities (~70%) and Latinx (33%) proportions tracking above the Division of Physical Sciences by approximately 10 percentage points.

URGE has four primary objectives as laid out on the main website (https://urgeoscience.org):

1. 1. Deepen the geoscience community’s knowledge of the effects of racism on the participation and retention of people of color in the discipline
2. 2. Draw on existing literature, expert opinions, and personal experiences to develop anti-racist policies and resources
3. 3. Share, discuss, and modify anti-racist policies and resources within a dynamic community network and on a national stage
4. 4. Implement and assess anti-racist policies and resources within Geoscience workplaces

Nearly 300 geoscientist groups across the country are now a part of URGE and are actively working towards anti-racist goals within their own departments. Facilitated by Prof. Lars Stixrude, our own UCLA URGE pod was formed in April 2021 from a cross section of EPSS students, faculty, researchers, and lecturers.

Over the course of the 2021 Spring quarter and the 2021-2022 academic year, the EPSS pod met weekly to discuss readings and interviews intended to inform participants on topics ranging from the history of racism in the geosciences, to the modern implications of white privilege for academic environments, to ideas for improving DEI in academic units. Drawn from the URGE curriculum, these materials are publicly available (https://urgeoscience.org/curriculum/). After each session, we assigned deliverables to be completed by pod members.

The action items included changes to departmental policy that could help establish a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment (e.g., policies for admissions, hiring, complaints, and working with communities of color) as well as establishing ground rules for constructive and respectful interaction among the pod members. Our draft deliverables are available on the department’s URGE website (https://urge.epss. ucla.edu/), and we encourage anyone with ideas for improving them to reach out to us at https://urge.epss. ucla.edu/feedback-contact-us/.

By Nika Eskandari

On November 6th, 2022, science enthusiasts of all ages converged in UCLA’s Court of Sciences for Exploring Your Universe (EYU), UCLA’s largest annual science fair. Held in person for the first time in two years, the event’s heavily anticipated return to campus–along with EPSS’ contributions–was a triumph.

UCLA EPSS’s diverse array of earth, planetary, and space science booths were heavily attended favorites. EFMP’s Stratigraphy in a Jar taught the basics of the formation and ordering of strata, or rock layers, using colored sand in a jar. SpinLab’s various water tank experiments demonstrated topics ranging from atmospheric flow to solar convection. UCLA’s first student-built satellite mission, ELFIN, joined forces with the space weather booth to create a room with fascinating depictions and explanations of space exploration and weather phenomena; prominent crowd-pleasers in this room included the various tesla balls and coils to elucidate the concept of plasma, and the full-scale ELFIN satellite model on display. Other EPSS booth subjects included earthquakes, meteorites, southern Californian rocks, oceanic studies, water erosion, and more.

With something for everyone, enthusiasm ran high for attendees and booth leaders alike, rendering the afternoon of hands-on scientific exploration and joy a smashing success!

EYU will return this fall: for more information on joining the fun, follow @exploringyouruniverse on Instagram and www.exploringyouruniverse.ucla.edu/ on the web. We look forward to seeing you at EYU 2023!

Photo Credits: Nika Eskandari