Barriers Facing Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Education and Southeast US Oyster Farmers

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation research is to provide understanding to the growing body of literature related to barriers in both undergraduate atmospheric science education and Southeast US oyster farming industry through three separate chapters. The first chapter focuses on a study that examines the factors influencing sense of belonging during undergraduate atmospheric science studies. The study utilizes an embedded mixed methods approach in the form of a survey with current and former undergraduate atmospheric science students serving as participants. The survey examines participants’ sense of belonging during undergraduate studies across demographic groups including gender, race, ethnicity, and education level. Study two examines sense of belonging in undergraduate atmospheric science departments through semi-structured interviews with a subset of the survey participants. The interviews provide a deeper understanding of an individual’s sense of belonging during undergraduate studies. The results and responses from these interviews help to provide recommendations to departments to improve undergraduate departments’ climate and culture. Improving students’ sense of belonging is vital to attract, retain, and sustain a more varied atmospheric science community. Study three focuses on the Southeast US oyster farmers’ perceptions of climate change and extreme weather events and their impacts to the industry. Similarly, this study uses a mixed methods approach with a combination of a survey and semi-structured interviews deployed to oyster farmers across the Southeast US. Overall, the goal of this dissertation is to better understand and begin to break down the barriers impacting atmospheric science undergraduate education and oyster farming industry.