USC McMorrow NAI Program Description

USC Leslie and Bill McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (USC NAI) is an academically rigorous and comprehensive seven-year pre-college program designed to prepare students from south and east Los Angeles for admission to a college or university.

Under the program guidelines, students must commit to a seven-year plan of attending Saturday Academy classes along with weekday morning classes at USC, after-school tutoring and parent workshops. Parents are also required to attend a biweekly Family Development Institute program to reinforce student academic goals and study habits and maximize a healthy home environment. Students who remain in the program in good standing from sixth grade until their high school graduation are eligible for a fully funded financial aid package- minus loans, to USC, provided they meet admission requirements. The USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI), the university’s signature college prep program enrolls close to 1,000 students annually. The USC McMorrow NAI program also provides support to all NAI Scholars through their first college degree. Since its first graduating class in 1997, more than 1300 students have completed the program with 83 percent enrollment as freshman at four-year universities, and 42 percent enrollment at USC (NAI, 2020)

From 2013 to 2019, the USC NAI program had an average student population of 86% Latinx, 12% Black, 1% Asian/Pacific Islander and 1% Other. USC NAI’s program focus is college preparedness in all fields, but in 2013 the program leadership saw a need to support their students in STEM based initiatives and help them persist in STEM fields. They received an initial grant from the Toyota Foundation to add a Saturday Science component to its program model. Based on some of those relationships, the ocean research methods course was born. After adding science as a core program component, the students of the program began demonstrating an interest and desire to engage more deeply in science. Thus, this course emerged and was added to the catalog of summer electives that the NAI scholars can take, and they self-select each of their respective courses. The course includes many opportunities to connect with field research sites and travel to places participating NAI scholars generally have not accessed before, like the beach, a research boat, or Catalina Island (a field experience).

Field experience to Catalina Island

During many of the previous seven years of the program, we have partnered with educators and staff at a university-affiliated marine and environmental biology field site on Catalina Island to host a field site visit and execute the scholars’ research experiments. For many of the scholars, the boat ride to the field site is their first ride on a boat. The research projects were facilitated by the educational staff and focused on studies that could be executed in the short time frame of the site visit Figure 2. The site visit included not only the execution of the experiments, but also a heavily chaperoned snorkeling experience with the leopard sharks in Big Fisherman’s Cove (part of a Marine Protected Area located adjacent to the USC Wrigley Institute). The students also sit with graduate students in the cafeteria and see what a communal science space looks like. For many of the students, this field trip was their first experience swimming, let alone snorkeling Figure 3. Wrigley provides educational staff at an eight-students-to-one-staff-member ratio. All safety considerations for snorkeling and boat transportation were considered and accounted for, with lifeguards, safety equipment, high student-to-staff ratios, and parental release forms for their participation in the research excursion.

Examples of the research projects that have been executed at the field site have varied between year to year and have included plankton population comparisons of the dock compared to the beach, fish respiration in the salt-water aquariums, transects in various habitats around the cove that the students snorkel over for fish counts, underwater remote operated vehicle testing, and feeding preferences for various marine organisms. Lorraine Sadler, Woman SCUBA Divers Hall of Fame inductee and an educator at Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, said:

I support the students by setting up the research projects here on Catalina Island. I work with the students so that they will learn fundamental research protocols and be able to collect data at our field site. Building these skills helps them to think critically and in a scientific way. I love seeing the light bulbs go off during their day trip because I know that they will be building upon these scientific research skills. We think it’s crucial to be able to give access to the ocean as part of this trip. Many of the students have little to no water experience and some have not been to the beach or on a boat and for most of them, this is their first time snorkeling. The educational staff works to reduce their fears by demonstrating how the gear works and that it won’t allow them to sink.

Without the support of the educational staff out at the USC Wrigley Institute, day trips to collect data and snorkel would not be possible.

Guest Scientists

Another partnership the ocean research method course has created is with scientists all across the United States from various backgrounds and representative of the participating student population. The scientists spanned a variety of underserved contexts in STEM including a variety of race, genders, orientations, ability, and more and also intersectionality within those contexts.

One of those scientists was Dr. Dijanna Figueroa, who spoke to the NAI scholars as a guest scientist in 2018 and continued for the years following Figure 4. She was an amazing role model for the students. She has a BS in marine biology (UCLA) and a Ph.D. in marine science (UCSB). She shared her experiences as a marine scientist and educator who has spent over 15 years investigating deep sea ecosystems and developing new research instrumentation for deep sea exploration. She talked about how her research had been featured in science and nature programs and various media outlets, including James Cameron’s documentary, Aliens of the Deep. She is one of the few African American women who has descended more than 3,722 meters in the deep sea! In 2006, she began to focus on education. She believes in the power of hands-on education and has become a maker mentor. She has experience teaching science, engineering, and STEAM in K-8 schools throughout greater Los Angeles. She is a member of the Maker Education Initiative Maker Corps. She is committed to providing engaging learning opportunities for young people that help prepare them for the science and technological discoveries of the future. By meeting scientists that look like our students, students develop an identity internally as a scientist themselves.

Research Vessels

E/V Nautilus: Stemming from the Lead Course Educator’s participation as a Science Communication Fellow (SCF) aboard E/V Nautilus, the class also dove into learning about deep sea exploration Figure 5. The Science Communication Fellowship immerses educators as expedition communicators for at-sea ocean exploration research. The yearlong collaboration empowers Fellows to bring the science, technology, engineering, math applications, and careers of maritime research to students and their communities. Students connected with SCF colleague Dennis ‘DJ’ Pevey aboard the ship for a live conference to learn about the ongoing expedition to map the seafloor. He stated:

Interacting with the USC NAI was one of the highlights of my experiences aboard E/V Nautilus during the 2016 expedition season. Through a live satellite connection with the ship, the students and I were able to experience the wonder of discovery together while viewing live footage captured by the ship’s two remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs). During that sequence of dives, the ship’s main scientific mission was to map and visually survey populations of deep sea corals in the proposed site of a Marine Protected Area called California Central Coast Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. During our interaction, the students and I were treated to some of the first-ever video footage of an incredibly diverse marine ecosystem thriving deep under the waves near their homes. Upon returning to shore, the students had an opportunity to meet the rest of the science team and see some of the samples we brought back from those dives.

Anyone can connect to deep sea expeditions 24/7 online through telepresence livestreams, but NAI students had the chance to tour the unique workplace of a research vessel as the ship came into port in San Pedro. Experiencing the collaboration and cooperation required to stage ocean-going missions reinforces practices from the classroom and problem-solving taught in STEM challenges. Live ship-to-shore video conferences and public virtual events hosted by OET engage students in a two-way dialogue with scientists, engineers, and educators at sea to bring the excitement of discovery into the classroom or home. These programs are free to learners worldwide. Learn more at nautiluslive.org/education. Students were able to virtually interact with scientists and science communicators who worked on the ship before the field trip and meet them in person during our tour of the vessel when it was in port. The tour demonstrated some of the research spaces that scientists live and work in while they are in the field, which further demystified what a field marine scientist experiences during various stages of their careers. This experience was tied to the application of ocean literacy principle #7 stating that the ocean is largely unexplored and the mission of the Nautilus and the dissemination of its research works to explore the deep sea environment.

JOIDES Resolution

JOIDES Resolution: During the 2018 class, the USC NAI research methods course instructor partnered with educators onboard the JOIDES Resolution. They videoconferenced with an onboard outreach officer named Tammy Orilio, who discussed her experience translating science onboard the ship to informal and formal audiences around the world Figure 6. She was on the JOIDES Resolution Expedition 376, when scientists drilled into the hydrothermally-active Brothers Volcano, located about 300 miles northeast of the north island of New Zealand, from May to July 2018. Brother’s Volcano is part of a chain of volcanoes (also known as a “volcanic arc”) that is about 4,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface) and releases heated fluids, metals, and other dissolved chemicals into the surrounding seawater. Orilio also connected and applied the ocean literacy principle #7 of the ocean being largely unexplored and explained how the cores they collect work to explore the ocean floor. Orilio said:

As Education & Outreach Officer on board the JOIDES Resolution for this expedition, I was able to video conference with classrooms around the world, including the NAI Ocean Research course, to explain what the science team was working on. Students learned about submarine volcanism, bathymetric maps, and the technology used to make those maps. The kids had such great questions about not only the science being conducted, but also how life on a ship works when you’re there for two months. It’s all about making connections and making science come alive! The students were immersed in real-life science, even from a distance, and were able to see that all science is not done by men in lab coats working in a sterile environment. Hopefully, that sparked something in them and they realized, “I could do this, too!”

The expedition focused on drilling cores from the Brothers volcano in the ocean near New Zealand. This was followed up by a visual examination of an amazing replica core that Nicole Kurtz sent over. The students compared this replica to a do-it-yourself (DIY) foam noodle core with magnets inside to illustrate the consequences of having high iron content in a core and see the effect on its orientation on the compass. Additionally, Dr. Lisa White sent the lead instructor open ocean foraminifera samples that students were able to examine under the microscope. This correlated to how the cores represent geologic history accurately since the ocean floor has pristine fossil and microfossil records from millions of years ago. This experience demonstrated other career options underneath the umbrella of marine science, including geoscience, marine paleontology, earth science, and geology.

University Laboratory Spaces

The course itself is hosted within the undergraduate and graduate biology laboratories so that the high school students are learning in an authentic science space on a college campus. Historically, students from lower-income backgrounds are markedly less likely to enroll in the full sequence of STEM courses offered at their high schools and are consequently less prepared for STEM careers than their more advantaged peers (Jury, Smeding, Stephens, Nelson, Aelenei, & Darnon, 2017). Furthermore, there are numerous structural barriers that stand between lower-income students and STEM preparation in high school including access to high-quality laboratory learning spaces. The high school these scholars come from only offers one Advanced Placement (AP) STEM class, AP Biology, which is a stark contrast to their more advantaged peers whose high schools offer 15 to 20 AP courses. By having the course in undergraduate laboratory settings, the students receive exposure to more skills and tools that will lay a foundation for them to persist in the STEM field of their choosing Figure 11. Gorjana Bezmalinovic, the laboratory manager that USC NAI partners with, to aid in this undergraduate laboratory access said:

“As the laboratory manager of the USC’s undergraduate biology classes, I think it’s crucial to give back to the community however we can. We do it by offering the NAI students laboratory spaces on a university campus for a research methods course. We offer the space and provide some equipment for the students to use. We provide the space so that those high school scholars can feel more prepared to be science majors in the future. It gives them a glimpse of what science looks like at the college level at the end.”

By working in the undergraduate lab spaces, we invite students to feel welcome in a university campus community and in STEM classrooms. Furthermore, Arunima Kolekar, a senior laboratory technician who supports the course said,

“USC NAI is a great way for USC to use its resources to help address the lack of socioeconomic diversity at the college level. It allows students from disadvantaged backgrounds to not only envision a brighter future, but also it helps them actively work toward it. Working with the NAI summer program is a great way for our department to be able to donate our extra lab materials and supplies, as well as our physical lab space, to students who might not otherwise be able to spend time in a lab environment and get hands-on experimental experience. I think USC NAI is a really meaningful way for USC to form partnerships with local schools and the community and help these bright and accomplished young people accomplish their goals.”

By bringing these students into the partnership with the university laboratory spaces, we work to level the playing field for the NAI scholars to succeed and decrease their attrition in STEM disciplines.

Professional University Laboratory Visits

University-affiliated partners have also included marine scientists who graciously invited the high school students into their laboratory spaces on campus. Two of those scientists include Dr. Suzanne Edmands and Dr. Carly Kenkel. We prioritized visiting female scientists and scientists of color so that the students could see themselves represented in the scientists we placed in front of them.

Dr. Suzanne Edmands’ lab studies conservation, population, and evolutionary genetics using a combination of fieldwork, molecular genetic analyses, and controlled breeding programs. Much of their current work involves using the tidepool copepod Tigriopus californicus as a model for understanding the genetic basis of reproductive isolation and environmental stress tolerance. Students met with Dr. Edmands’ graduate students in the lab to learn about their STEM experience and see copepods for the first time Figure 12. Dr. Edmands stated:

“It’s always a pleasure to have NAI scholars tour my marine genetics lab. They invariably ask perceptive questions and seem genuinely excited about looking at tiny marine animals under the microscope! I hope these visits will encourage students to consider pursuing a career in scientific research.”

The scholars of the class of 2019 visited the lab of Dr. Carly Kenkel, a Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Figure 13. Her graduate students study ecology or organism-environment interactions by inducing or selecting for different phenotypes and how these ecological interactions influence and are influenced by the evolutionary trajectories of populations and species. Her research focuses on understanding why some coral animals are capable of withstanding environmental stress that causes others to bleach and die and how we can use this knowledge to manage and restore reefs for the future. Dr. Kenkel and her graduate students use both lab and field experiments and measure everything from environmental data, to microbes living around and inside the coral, to the physiology and genetics of the coral itself. Dr. Kenkel described the experience:

“The NAI students visiting my lab learned what corals are and what coral bleaching means. They were able to see live coral and their cousins, anemones, in our on-campus aquarium room, view some of the tiny algae that live inside a coral’s tissue and are the key to the bleaching response, and touch coral skeletons. I hope that in learning about coral and the important role they play as the foundation of coral reef ecosystems, the NAI students were able to take away a greater appreciation for these remarkable organisms and how they are threatened by climate change.”

By having access to these authentic laboratory spaces and meeting with scientists in the field, students are able to see what types of careers are available if they want to pursue careers in the marine biology field. The students also become familiar with the tools of the scientists’ world and consequently become accustomed to working in a lab space, thus demystifying science as a discipline for their future careers.