Department of Atmospheric Science
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These digital collections include theses, dissertations, Atmospheric Science papers (Blue Books), Climatology Reports and other publications, and datasets from the Department of Atmospheric Science.
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Browsing Department of Atmospheric Science by Author "Adams, Amanda S."
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Item Open Access Dataset associated with "Role modeling is a viable retention strategy for undergraduate women in the geosciences"(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Hernandez, Paul; Bloodhart, Brittany; Adams, Amanda S.; Barnes, Rebecca T.; Burt, Melissa; Clinton, Sandra M.; Du, Wenyi; Godfrey, Elaine; Henderson, Heather; Pollack, Ilana B.; Fischer, Emily V.Gender diversity leads to better science; however, a number of STEM disciplines, including many geoscience sub-disciplines show a persistent gender gap. PROmoting Geoscience Research, Education, and SuccesS (PROGRESS) is a theory-driven role modeling and mentoring program aimed at supporting undergraduate women interested in geoscience-related degree and career pathways. This study is unique because it is being conducted in a long-term applied setting, rather than as a laboratory exercise. We compare female STEM majors in PROGRESS to a matched control group (N = 380) using a longitudinal prospective multi-site quasi-experimental design. College women in PROGRESS participated in a mentoring and role modeling weekend workshop with follow-up support, while women in the control group participated in neither the workshop nor the follow-up support. PROGRESS members identified more female STEM career role models than controls (60% vs. 42%, respectively), suggesting that deliberate interventions can develop the networks of undergraduate women. Undergraduate women that participate in PROGRESS have higher rates of persistence in geoscience-related majors (95% vs. 73%), although the rates of switching into a geoscience-related major did not differ across groups. More strikingly, we also find that the persistence of undergraduate women in geoscience-related majors is related to the number of female STEM career role models they identify, as their odds of persisting approximately doubles for each role model they identify. We conclude that our ability to retain undergraduate women in the geosciences will depend, in part, on helping them to identify same-gender career role models. Further, the success of PROGRESS points to steps universities and departments can take to sustain their students' interest and persistence, such as hosting interactive panels with diverse female scientists to promote the attainability and social relevance of geoscience careers.Item Open Access Dataset associated with "Seeking congruity for agentic women: a longitudinal examination of college women's persistence in STEM"(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Henderson, Heather; Bloodhart, Brittany; Adams, Amanda S.; Barnes, Rebecca T.; Burt, Melissa; Clinton, Sandra M.; Fischer, Emily V.; Pollack, Ilana B.; Hernandez, Paul R.An abundance of literature has examined barriers to women's equal representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with many studies showing that STEM fields are not perceived to afford communal goals, a key component of women's interest in future careers. Using Goal Congruity Theory as a framework, we tested the longitudinal impact of perceptions of STEM career goal affordances, communal and agentic goals, and their congruity on persistence in science from the second through fourth years of college among women in STEM majors. We found that women's intent to persist in science were highest in fall of their second year, that persistence intentions exhibited a sharp decline, and that eventually leveled off by their fourth year of college. This pattern was moderated by perceptions of agentic affordances in STEM, such that women with higher perceptions of agentic affordances experienced smaller declines. Similar to prior research, we found that higher perceptions of communal goal affordances in STEM consistently predicted higher persistence intentions. Finally, we found an agentic goal-affordance congruity interaction, such that higher perceptions of agentic affordances in STEM predicted higher persistence intentions; however, the positive relationship was stronger for women with higher agentic goals. We conclude that because STEM fields are stereotyped as affording agentic goals, women who identify interest in a STEM major during their first year of college may be drawn to these fields for this reason, and may benefit from perceptions that STEM affords both communal and agentic goals.Item Open Access Dataset Associated with the Research Article Titled: Webs of Science: Developmental Networks Influence Women’s Integration into STEM Fields(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Hernandez, Paul R.; Patterson, Megan S.; Nyanamba, Juliet M.; Adams, Amanda S.; Barnes, Rebecca T.; Burt, Melissa; Clinton, Sandra M.; Pollack, Ilana B.; Fischer, Emily V.Mentorship can be part of the solution to developing a more diverse global scientific workforce, but robust longitudinal evidence is limited. Developmental mentor network theory can advance our understanding of the impact of a wide range of mentors across social contexts by distinguishing between the content of mentorship support (eg career support) and the structural characteristics of an individual’s mentor network (eg density of connections among mentors). We tested the influence of mentor network characteristics on longitudinal social integration into earth and environmental sciences, as indicated by science identity development (a key indicator of social integration) and STEM graduate school applications, in a sample of 233 undergraduate women at 9 universities in the U.S. Findings indicate that belonging to close-knit, larger, and skill-focused mentorship networks creates a “sticky web” of social connections, providing information and resources that increase retention of college women in the earth and environmental sciences.