Club fosters diversity, community, professionalism in Earth and Mineral Sciences
September 26, 2023
Photo Credit: Khaleah Jackson, a Penn State senior majoring in environmental systems engineering and president of Minorities in Earth and Mineral Sciences. Credit: Penn State / Penn State. Creative Commons
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Khaleah Jackson arrived at Penn State three years ago as a shy, quiet student. Once on campus, she found a new club — Minorities in Earth and Mineral Sciences (MEMS) — that helped her come out of her shell socially and in developing her professional skill set, she said.
“I feel like I’ve gained that skill of connecting with other people,” said Jackson, a senior majoring in environmental systems engineering who is now president of the club. “I have really broken out of my shell as I get that leadership experience. Now I’m using that experience to try to make MEMS even better for the people to come.”
MEMS was founded in 2019 to promote diversity within the College of Earth and Mineral Science by Bryttani Wooten, then an undergraduate student in meteorology and atmospheric science. Wooten graduated in 2021 and is now a doctoral student in geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.