Building Work Experience for Geospatial Analysts and Technicians

Despite a wealth of geospatial science technician jobs in Colorado, recent graduates face the permission paradox: they cannot get a job without experience, but they cannot get experience without a job. Many employers require at least a year of practical work experience, which is often a significant barrier for recent two-year college graduates. This barrier is especially true for low-income students, because they often work in an unrelated field while completing their coursework. This project will offer students in the Geospatial Science program an opportunity to work with external partners on real-world geospatial projects as they complete degrees and/or certificates. Each year, twenty students will have a paid internship with an industry employer, which will allow students to apply the technical skills acquired through coursework, gain work experience, and build project management, critical thinking, and professional skills. Thus, these work experiences will support learning outcomes in students' courses and increase the employability of graduates. Students will also host active learning workshops for middle and high school students from neighboring school districts that serve a large underrepresented student population. These workshops aim to raise awareness and engage secondary school students in exploring and pursuing technical careers in the geospatial sciences.

This project will offer a novel internship approach by providing: 1) traditional, in-person work projects in collaboration with northern Colorado workforce partners; and 2) virtual projects in collaboration with the national ATE GeoTech Center. This project will pilot one of the first virtual internship programs for geospatial community college students in the nation. Geospatial Science students, with oversight from faculty mentors, will build a middle and high school geospatial educational pipeline by hosting active learning workshops using unmanned aerial vehicles. The workshops will introduce students, including young women and underrepresented students, to geospatial education and career paths, with the goal of increasing diversity in the geoscience workforce. The workshops will simultaneously develop middle and high school students' knowledge of geospatial education and careers while providing a near-peer teaching experience for community college students. As part of project dissemination, the project will develop a best practices guide for building virtual geospatial internship program.