PGE/SEP: Supporting university women in geoscience: the mentoring ladder, field experience, and academic training

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The goal of this project, to be conducted at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM), is to improve the number of Hispanic women who complete undergraduate degrees and enter graduate programs in the Earth Sciences by targeting three critical transition points which strongly affect future career decisions: 1) entry into college; 2) the senior year and impending graduation; and 3) the beginning years of graduate school. The objectives are: to encourage the women during these transition periods to remain in geosciences and to nurture them into becoming leaders who will ascend through the scientific hierarchy and serve as role models. The long-term goal is to increase the numbers and the visibility of Hispanic women at the national level in geosciences. The total number of Hispanic women impacted is approximately 80 during the 18-month tenure of the proposal. Project activities include: establishing a support network of peers early in the college career with a weekend field-trip for entering female geoscience majors; building cooperation and leadership through teamwork during a two-week field experience for senior undergraduate and graduate women; developing self-confidence and academic proficiency through a mentoring ladder in which freshman are guided by upper-class women who are counseled by graduate students, who, in turn, are supported by a faculty member; improving professional and social skills through seminars given by female students of all levels and critiqued by their colleagues; and increasing awareness of opportunities through attendance at national meetings and a lecture series that brings prominent female geoscientists to UPRM. Project activities are complementary. The unifying theme is the focus on improving self-confidence and self-reliance through independent decision-making, mentoring, and a support network of peers that can be used throughout a woman's career.