INSPIRE Community Program

The INSPIRE high school summer program gives students from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the geosciences hands-on learning and research experience. Over the course of two weeks, students perform field work & data collection, learn about geoscience and geoscience career paths, and visit Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory campus in Palisades, NY. Our team is dedicated to giving participating students experiential learning, mentorship and guidance that will support them throughout their scientific and academic careers.

Discover the fascinating world of geoscience as experts from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory share their groundbreaking research and explore its real-world impact. Learn about their unique career paths—what sparked their passion for science, the challenges they’ve overcome, and what continues to excite them in the field today. Hands-on activities with our speakers will help you understand geoscience concepts. You'll also learn about how geoscience impacts our every day lives and a variety of geoscience-related career paths and opportunities. 

Past speakers and topics:

2024:

• Dr. Vicki Ferrini (LDEO),  Introduction to INSPIRE, Geoscience & Ocean Exploration
• Dr. Jacky Austermann (LDEO), Sea Level Change
• Dr. Alireza Farahmand (Cal State, Los Angeles; INSPIRE Fellow), Utilizing Satellite Observations to Monitor Natural Hazards 
• Dr. Amy Yeboah Quarkume (Howard University, INSPIRE Fellow), Do you see me now? 
• Dr. Dan Westervelt (LDEO), Air pollution: the invisible killer & Build an air sensor activity
• Dr. Anne Becel (LDEO), Imaging the source of large subduction zone earthquakes 
• Maya Pincus & Sharon Cooper (LDEO), International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) with ship-to-shore call to the JOIDES Resolution
• Dr. Suzana Camargo (LDEO), Climate change and extreme weather events
• Bella Amato, Shradha Ravi Kumar, Keylen Lucero Garcia, Lily Kunkel (LDEO/INSPIRE Scholars), Our Journeys to the Bridge to PhD Program
• Leila Tarabein & Claire Jasper (LDEO), Ice “Melting” in Antarctica Through Time: How analyzing sand from the deep ocean can tell us about Antarctica 
• Dr. Robin Bell (LDEO), Imaging Under Ice and Hands-on How Ice Flows Activity

2023

• Dr. Vicki Ferrini (LDEO), Introduction to Geoscience & Ocean Exploration. 
• Dr. Indrani Das (LDEO), Recent Changes to the Antarctic Ice Sheet
• Dr. Jonnny Kingslake (LDEO), Ice Flows!
• Dr. Carol Coterill (LDEO), International Ocean Discovery Program
• Dr. Ben Holtzman (LDEO), Seismology
• Dr. James Davis (LDEO), Sea level change
• Rafael Uribe (LDEO), STEMSEAS Program and Geoscience Data Curation
• Dr. Ajit Subramaniam (LDEO), Phytoplankton in the World Oceans
• Dr. Braddock Linsley (LDEO), Using corals to understand past climate