Through its support of the National COSEE Office, the University of Rhode Island (URI) is showing its support for education and
outreach. Dr. Isaac Ginis believes that not only does URI (his academic institution) support his personal involvement in education
and outreach, but that he also receives encouragement from funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) to think
about the broader impacts of his research. He feels an obligation and a responsibility to be involved in outreach, and encourages
his students to be involved as well.
This kind of support was not always apparent. One example of the shift in values can be seen in the history of the NSF GK-12 program,
in which graduate oceanography students are placed in K-12 classrooms. In addition to being a significant investment by NSF, the
GK-12 program also helped scientists to see the value of their participation. Scientists who may have been at first reluctant to
allow their grad students to go into K-12 classrooms became firm believers after being exposed to the program.
