Caballero-Gill Receives Funding for the CycloCohort Program
Rocío Paola Caballero-Gill, Research Assistant Professor, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, has received an award from the Heising-Simons Foundation for: "Leveraging the Geologic Record to Constrain Solar System Evolution, Earth-Moon Dynamics, Paleoclimate Change, and Geological Time, Project 6: The CycloCohort Program - An Early-Career Springboard for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Justice Focused Leadership in Geoscience & Astronomy." This project is part of a new three-year, $4.4 million, multi-university collaboration known as The CycloAstro Project, coordinated by Dr. Linda Hinnov (AOES; Award 223875).
A key objective of the CycloCohort Program is the training and professional development of a diverse group of graduate students and postdocs, giving special attention to the recruitment and retention of early career scientists from marginalized groups, to foster socially conscious, community-engaged, and equity-focused leaders in geoscience and astronomy.
Caballero-Gill and her team* recognize the existence of social injustices and biases that serve as barriers for marginalized folx, preventing them from entering and maintaining a science career. They also recognize that having a diverse research team is not only the morally right thing, this has also been proven to enhance creativity and productivity. The CycloCohort Program is expected to accelerate the research, cultivating a team of future leaders/collaborators in the study of Earth and Solar System history, and thought leaders in enhancing inclusion, diversity, equity and justice.
The CycloCohort participants will receive unique interdisciplinary training facilitated by regular virtual team meetings, annual team training workshops, and a range of mentoring and training opportunities across the network of six universities including University of Wisconsin, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Yale University, UC Santa Barbara, University of Hawaii and George Mason University. Find out more about the program and apply to be a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in The CycloAstro Project.
Caballero-Gill received $499,154 from the Heising-Simons Foundation for this project. Funding began in June 1, 2021 and will end May 31, 2024. The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation based in Los Altos and San Francisco, California. The Foundation works with its many partners to advance sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, enhance the education of our youngest learners, and support human rights for all people.
CycloCohort team:
Linda Hinnov, George Mason University
Stephen Meyers, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Carmen McCallum, Eastern Michigan University
Julie Libarkin, Michigan State University
