“I was so excited. I can’t think of any other words,” said Brooke Haiar, professor and chair of the university’s Environmental Science and Sustainability Department. “This is her second application and the National Science Foundation has historically been difficult to raise funds for.”

Approximately $400,000 in GeoPaths grants will cover travel, lodging and board expenses for 18 students over the next three years.

Students can earn 6 credits. This can count towards the major you decide to pursue.

Beverly Reed, the university’s executive director of career development, believes the experience will help students “see the whole package and understand where they fit in.”

According to Reid, her office holds workshops before students travel to help them understand careers related to the research they do in Wyoming.

“There are so many things that can be done related to this, and they will continue to explore some of that while they do their fieldwork,” Reid said.

Students will learn how to pull dinosaur bones out of the ground, museum cataloging, microscopy skills, social media, and outreach skills for science education, Haiar said.

A typical summer day for Wyoming students includes breakfast in the morning and a drive to the site that takes about 45-50 minutes. When the group arrives, they set up shady shelters and Hyal assigns the students work for the day.

Depending on the weather, the group will dig for three to four hours.

Haiar said there are also travel-related scholarships so students who would normally have to work in the summer can take time off to attend, and fall classes focused on career preparation and training. There are also scholarships for

Students will have the opportunity to hear speakers who have careers in geology and have similar backgrounds to the student group.

Haiar said the diversity of geology is not high and hoped the presentation would be encouraging to the students.

“I look forward to hearing what they have to say,” Hier said.

During the summer, students work in the form of internships at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH), but are not traditional internships as most of their work is under Haier’s supervision.

In a news release from Lynchburg University, VMNH executive director Joe Keiper said he is excited about the museum’s partnership with the university.

“This project is the intersection of exciting science and student training,” Keiper said in a release. In addition, we continue to have an excellent working relationship with Lynchburg University, which leverages academic and museum resources. ”

After summer trips and fall classes, Reid hopes to be able to see all the different career possibilities his students can explore.

“You see them [students] It’s like growing up to be a young professional like ‘go to graduate school or work as a naturalist’. For me it was a turning point in their lives and being in the middle of it is so much fun and the best part of my job,” Reid said.

This isn’t the first time Haiar has taken students to Wyoming. The professor said she has been doing this for a long time. Looking back at the number of students she attended, the number identified as ethnic minorities was very small.

“By providing the financial means to cover the experience, we want to ease the barriers that exist for student participation. That is the goal,” says Haiar.