With shore-fast sea ice disappearing along the coast of the Chukchi Sea causing winds with deep snow drifts, variable snowpack in Bristol Bay in Alaska, and winters without snow in West Central Montana, youth from these areas have personal stories of environmental changes witnessed firsthand. In a virtual “Dirty Snow” citizen science STEM engagement program that met weekly for 5-weeks, middle and high school youth across different time zones and cultures shared such snow stories, implemented a protocol to measure light absorbing particles (LAPs) in snow, and conducted their own Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) snowpack and pH investigations. Teachers, parents and researchers teamed up to support students as they asked their own questions about how LAPs affect their local communities and measured, collected, filtered, and analyzed snow samples. Students learned that LAPs in snow affect the Earth’s climate system by reducing snow reflectivity, affecting albedo. On a local scale, LAPs capture heat energy leading to snow loss. Students wondered if LAPs also affect water quality. Middle school students from Shishmaref, Alaska (located on an island in the Chukchi Sea) selected snow sampling locations in areas important to their community’s resilience to climate change, such as the sole water supply lagoon. The Shishmaref students shared their results with their community, showcased their project in both the GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium and a tribal climate resilience webinar, and have been featured in the July 2021 Association of Women in Science Magazine issue on sustainability and innovation. In this session, we will share the lessons learned from multiple perspectives - including surveyed youth participants - on conducting a remote synchronous and asynchronous STEM and climate resilience engagement on a short timescale.

The stated mission of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is ”to foster Arctic research to help the nation and the world understand, prepare for, and adapt to the pan-Arctic impacts of climate change.” IARC’s work and collaborations are everywhere in the Arctic and beyond. One of IARC’s core values is actively cultivating an environment of diversity and inclusion where all individuals and groups feel welcomed and are heard. Through the work of the IARC Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, we affirm that our different experiences, expertise, and ways of knowing are our strength, fostering diverse thoughts and ideas. Collaborative science and administrative support by people from diverse backgrounds and knowledge systems helps IARC build a professional culture of inclusion, listening, caring and respect. We face challenges in DEI work and are actively addressing them. For example, in addressing the challenge of time constraints by the all-volunteer membership, a DEI coordinator position to spearhead our efforts is being created and funding sought. We highlight efforts from the IARC Diversity and Inclusivity Working Group to cultivate a culture of inclusion, equity and access: 1) collaboratively developing an institutional diversity and inclusivity statement and land acknowledgement statement, 2) creating safe spaces for conversation and action through open biweekly working group meetings and discussions, 3) elevating awareness through relevant workshops, trainings and discussions, 4) collectively incorporating diversity and inclusion values into the IARC strategic plan, 5) making presentations and documents accessible, and 6) actively collaborating on inclusion efforts within UAF, Alaska and beyond. We welcome new members with their ideas and perspectives to the working group. At IARC, we recognize that inclusion is an ongoing process that has to be woven into all that we do in research, education and outreach.

Accessibility of scientific research to underrepresented voices is a forefront issue. Intentionally-designed citizen science programs, such as the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ (UAF) citizen science and learning research project “Arctic Harvest-Public Participation in Scientific Research,” are poised to improve the participation and effectiveness of citizen science across diverse audiences while gathering rigorous data. We selected our research question after first listening to stories of how Alaska’s rural grocery store - the land and its bounty of berries - has become more variable. We investigate how shifts in climate affect the fate of subsistence berries and timing of berry loss from plants in fall and winter across Alaska. In our presentation, we outline the design elements and accommodations we made to enable a diverse group of 1,099 participants in 28 communities to collect phenology, berry abundance and condition, temperature, cloud cover, and snowpack data across ages, cultures, and learning environments. Over half of our volunteers were pre-K to 6th grade, while just under 10% were adults. Approximately 44% of our participants (479 of 1099 participants) were from groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields. We present learning outcomes evaluation, data collection approaches, and data quality per age group. To improve the success of a citizen science program, find the overlap between a topic of personal and cultural relevance to diverse participants and your university’s ongoing research programs.