The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio College (SAC), and the University of North Dakota (UND) are partnering to provide underrepresented undergraduates from UTSA and SAC NASA-related research and education experiences. Students will have the opportunity to participate in climate-related research experiences aligned with NASA Science Plan objectives for climate and Earth system science. An integral part of the learning process will include training in modern media technology (webcasts), and in using this technology to communicate the information on climate change to others, culminating in production of a webcast about investigating aspects of climate change using NASA data. Content to be developed is based on NASA Earth observation data and NASA Earth system models and tools.

Objectives: 1. Introduce underrepresented undergraduate students from San Antonio and south Texas to climate change concepts, climates change impacts, and research methodologies using NASA tools and observational and model data. 2. Develop and offer a new course for UTSA and SAC students focusing on global climate change and Earth observation. 3. Improve the 2+2 pipeline for science and engineering students between community colleges and UTSA. 4. Foster minority undergraduates as educators by encouraging them to communicate their knowledge, first via webcasts produced at UTSA, and eventually in their own colleges and schools. 5. Incorporate student webcast modules into grades 6-12 classrooms with lesson plans developed by pre-service teachers under the direction of experienced educators and disseminated within existing education and outreach initiatives.

Outcomes: 1. Fifty undergraduate interns from underrepresented groups perform research and education about climate change using NASA datasets and tools. 2. Intensive climate change research experience for minority undergraduate in south Texas tested at UTSA, using curricula initially developed at UND and modified for Texas students. Test-case used as basis for creation of a permanent for-credit experience within new course offered by UTSA and SAC and made available to partner institutions. 3. Undergraduate interns create 15 webcasts that present climate change issues in their own words, and make them available to public. 4. Lesson plans are written to accompany the webcasts by UTSA undergraduate/graduate students in education. The undergraduate education majors will learn about teaching climate change in their own future classrooms. Subject-specific secondary curriculum experts recruited from the local school districts will review and approve the student created lesson plans. The resulting lesson plans will be published to the web for use by teachers around the country. 5. Twenty five regional grade 6-12 teachers will be trained to use the lesson plans in a 5-day workshop hosted by UTSA. 6. Lesson plans and webcasts incorporated into UTSA P-20 Initiatives program, targeting STEM educators in area school systems.