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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/170246

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Browsing Research Data by Author "Balgopal, Meena"

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    ItemOpen Access
    Dataset associated with “What’s in a name? The paradox of citizen science and community science”
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Lin Hunter, Danielle; Newman, Gregory; Balgopal, Meena
    Citizen science has expanded ecological and environmental sciences by making possible studies across greater spatial and temporal scales while incorporating local expertise and interests that might otherwise be overlooked. Broadly, citizen science involves the public in the process of science. However, it continues to struggle to engage diverse participants. Citizen science project coordinators are increasingly trying to promote inclusivity by rebranding as “community science” to avoid the term “citizen.” Rebranding efforts, while well-intentioned, are uninformed by research, as we lack an evidenced-based understanding of these terms. We distributed a survey to those who participate in citizen and community science. We found differences in how well known and accepted the terms are, who is perceived as initiating and benefiting from the projects, and associated levels of inclusivity. Our findings have important implications for those involved in citizen and community science seeking to better describe projects in the future.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Dataset associated with: "Intentional mentoring should increase inclusivity in ecology"
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Stuchiner, Emily; Lin Hunter, Danielle; Neuwald, Jennifer; Webb, Colleen; Balgopal, Meena
    High quality mentoring relationships can be pivotal to recruitment, retention, and long-term persistence in ecology majors and careers. The graduate-undergraduate student mentoring relationship can become uniquely important during activities like ecological fieldwork. However, graduate students often have little experience as research mentors, which can lead to negative research experiences for undergraduate mentees. Given the potential for mentoring relationships to impact people’s decisions on pursuing ecological studies and/or careers, we created and piloted a mentoring professional development program designed around intentional mentoring. Intentional mentoring requires that mentors preemptively identify what skills and knowledge their mentee should develop as well as the practices to help mentees develop these competencies. Our rationale for using intentional mentoring was that it has the potential to increase mentors’ and mentees’ awareness of issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice (DEIJ) in research experiences, in addition to developing professional competencies. To evaluate our program, we conducted focus group interviews with graduate and undergraduate student participants following a multi-week mentoring training workshop, the primary aspect of the program. Participants described an increased valuation of intentional mentoring and a desire to be more intentional in their mentoring relationships. Graduate student mentors described an increased desire to be more intentional mentors, whereas undergraduate mentees described an increased desire to seek mentors with whom they could develop intentional relationships. Undergraduates also better recognized the importance of academic mentors. Based on our evaluation, we posit that intentional mentoring can increase the retention and persistence of students with diverse identities in ecology by fostering a sense of belonging. We advocate the implementation of mentoring training workshops as a part of academic ecological programs to increase inclusion in our discipline.