October 4th, 2024

By Angelique Rosa Marín 

Edited by Daniela Navarro-Perez and Nicole Hucke

This 2024 CoCo takes a turn! We start the year by setting new educational goals to expand our outreach and accessibility to amplify our impact. It is time to broaden our horizons and continue contributing to breaking down the language barrier in the academic development of scientists in Geosciences and related fields.

Through our home community, GeoLatinas, and former CoCo students, we have recruited a team of elite women from different parts of the world: Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States (Fig. 1 & 2). We have been working to create Comunidad CoCo, a bilingual educational platform for undergraduate and graduate students in learning Python and developing strategies to communicate scientific information to diverse audiences.

On June 28, 2024, we held the CoCo Coaches Orientation for the Comunidad CoCo (Fig. 2). We have five Coaches from diverse backgrounds and levels in their scientific careers. CoCo Coaches will be the driving force dedicated to educating participants and updating the educational content for Comunidad CoCo 2024.

What is Comunidad CoCo?

Comunidad CoCo (Fig. 3) has two primary objectives: 1) to offer a space for former CoCo students, members of GeoLatinas, Latinx, Hispanxs, and Caribbeans students to ask questions and get advice on science communication strategies and programming topics discussed at past CoCo Programs (2021-2023), 2) to increase the accessibility of our educational resources for undergraduate and graduate students in Geosciences.

The Comunidad will focus on two main parts. Beginning in August 2024, we offer   an office hours system where Comunidad members can schedule a designated time with a CoCo Coach to help them resolve questions on topics that have been covered through the latest versions of the CoCo program. CoCo’s former students and GeoLatinas members have the privilege of accessing these services before the community opens to other groups.

What topics can be addressed during office hours?

Python programming: 

• Introduction to Python (e.g., what are libraries, variables, mathematical operations)

• How to use libraries 

• Read, write, and clean data sets 

Communication strategies: 

• Writing and translating scientific blogs  

• Using social media as a science communication tool  

• Scientific presentations and posters

In October 2024, we plan to achieve the second objective of Comunidad CoCo. An asynchronous virtual course on how to use Python for research applications in Geosciences. Also, the course will teach how to communicate scientific content to different audiences, how to write science blog posts, and how to apply translation strategies.

We invite students at any stage of their scientific career and early-stage professionals to join the Comunidad. We aim to continue advancing our goal of bridging the language gap for students and professionals who identify as Latinxs, Hispanics, and Caribbeans in the Geoscience community.