"Exploring Perceptions of Merit and Opportunity in the Geosciences” explores how academic geoscientists define and understand the concepts of merit and opportunity in relation to career advancement, departmental leadership, and access to professional development. Specifically: 
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• How academic geoscientists conceptualize merit and opportunity in career advancement, leadership, and professional development.

• The extent to which perceptions of merit and opportunity align with or diverge from institutional policies, practices, and values espoused by academic geoscience departments.

• Perceived barriers and supports encountered by academic geoscientists as they pursue advancement and leadership opportunities.

• The effectiveness of current communication and engagement efforts in encouraging influential department members to support changes towards fair and transparent advancement practices.

• Which stakeholders are involved in making departmental and institutional change related to fairness and transparency in advancement and the strategies they employ to promote and implement these shifts.

The project is supported by the Michigan State University Tetrad initiative. Launched in Fall 2023, the initiative is designed to foster new cross-unit and cross-college collaborations among Michigan State University faculty who have not worked together before, resulting in projects that create opportunities for extramural support of unique research programs.