STEMSEAS: A Vehicle for the US Academic Fleet to Serve Undergraduates from Diverse Backgrounds

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Student Experiences Aboard Ships program began, as many inspiring ideas do, on the back of a napkin. Author Cooper has worked for many years for the International Ocean Discovery Program and its School of Rock, which provides teacher professional development workshops on the drillship JOIDES Resolution (JR). Author Lewis, an academic, is fortunate to have sailed twice as a School of Rock instructor on the JR and had been pondering since 2013 how undergraduates might be provided similar opportunities. Over coffee in Pittsburgh one day, they discussed the fact that the 19 ships of the University National Oceanographic Laboratories System often have repositioning transits as well, and these voyages frequently sail out of US ports without full science parties, meaning there are multiple available berths. They are well aware that the geosciences overall, and oceanography in particular, lack diversity, and these transits seemed like a perfect opportunity to address this issue in one small corner of our world.