FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A program designed to attract the interest of underrepresented students in geosciences will pair undergraduates with University of Arkansas professors to study aquifers in central Arkansas and seismic hazards in Central America.

The pilot project, funded by the National Science Foundation for two years, will involve eight undergraduate students — six from NorthWest Arkansas Community College and two from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff — who will work with geoscientists at the University of Arkansas, using remote sensing, global positioning systems and geographic information science to study important geologic issues in Arkansas, Central America and the Caribbean.

“We are exploring ways to enhance diversity in the geosciences,” said Pamela Jansma, chair of the university’s department of geosciences and principal investigator for the project, which will be called uGRO — short for undergraduate Geospatial Research Opportunities. If the pilot project succeeds, it may lead to a long-term, federally funded program to expose underrepresented students to geoscience research.

“Neither of these schools have geosciences degree programs,” Jansma said, although each teaches geosciences courses. By getting students involved in geosciences research, she and the other researchers hope to ignite the students’ interest in pursuing geosciences as a career.

The six community college students will work with professors during the school year, and two will travel to Nicaragua in the winter of 2008 to conduct field work. The two students from UA Pine Bluff will participate in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program, an eight-week project that will include four weeks of research on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean and four weeks at the University of Arkansas campus to analyze and interpret data. The students also will attend a national meeting of the Geological Society of America and participate in workshops on study habits and the process of applying to four-year institutions and graduate schools. The students also will meet with a researcher from the U.S. Geological Survey, who will discuss career opportunities in the geosciences with them.

“The idea is to get them interested in the geosciences,” said Jackson Cothren, assistant professor of geosciences. Almost all students who have participated with Jansma and her colleague, Glen Mattioli, in work funded by the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates have gone on to graduate school.

The funding also will go toward starting a program at UA Pine Bluff to use geospatial technologies to look at aquifer drawdown in central Arkansas, a project that would involve students and professors year-round.

Faculty involved at the three institutions include Glen Mattioli, professor of geosciences at the University of Arkansas; Marvin Galloway, dean of science, mathematics, aviation, regulatory and technology at NorthWest Arkansas Community College; James Garner, chair of the department of agriculture at UA Pine Bluff; Edmund Buckner, director of the GIS Laboratory at UA Pine Bluff; and John Czarnecki, senior scientist with the USGS Water Resources District in Little Rock.

The UA department of geosciences is in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.