THE ROLE OF MENTORSHIP IN A REMOTE SENSING RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR UNDERGRADUATE MINORITY STUDENTS

摘要

The many applications of remote sensing techniques to unearth understanding of the environment has not only increased by leaps and bounds over the past two or so decades, but they have also now become indispensable to routine and comprehensive geophysical studies. Today, all geophysical disciplines utilize remote sensing applications in some form or another, and the trend in such usage is certainly expected to be positive going forward. It is, therefore, critical that the next generation of remote sensing tool developers and users be adequately attracted, recruited, retained, and trained to meet current 21st century environmental challenges and those challenges that lie ahead. It is also equally important (for a plethora of reasons) that this prospective new cohort of remote sensing developers and users be both ethnically diverse and highly skilled. To this end, the New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of the City University of New York has used a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU) grant to develop and implement an intrusive remote sensing research mentoring program that targets minority students. Programmatic results indicate that the remote sensing mentoring program has been highly successful in increasing the mentees' remote sensing knowledge and research skills, their communication of remote sensing concepts and ideas, and their research creativity, autonomy, and intellect.