Collaborative Research: Further Continuity and Enhancement of MPOWIR

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This proposal is for further continuation and enrichment of activities within the Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention (MPOWIR) program. This is a community-led program aiming at providing mentoring to junior women in physical oceanography to improve their retention in the field. The activities carried out as part of the program contribute to the creation of a scientific workforce whose diversity more closely matches that of the student and of the U.S. population. This is achieved by aiding the retention of women in the field of physical oceanography and other geoscience disciplines. The program was initiated in 2004, it was first fully funded by federal agencies in the spring of 2007, and then renewed in 2009. The objectives of the program, as determined by the community in a planning workshop in the fall of 2005, are to: (1) provide continuity of mentoring from a young woman?s graduate career, through her postdoctoral years to the first years of her permanent job, (2) establish a collective responsibility within the physical oceanography community for the mentoring of junior women in the field, (3) provide a variety of mentoring resources and mentors, (4) cast a wide net to avoid exclusiveness, and (5) open this mentoring program to all those who self-identify as a physical oceanographer. Specifically, the following MPOWIR activities will be carried out:1.Pattullo conference: A biannual conference that brings together about 25 junior women physical oceanographers, and 12 senior physical oceanographers, both male and female, for a 2.5-day meeting focused on discipline-based mentoring.2.Mentoring groups: Groups of approximately 6 junior women and 2 senior women physical oceanographers meet monthly through a teleconference, for confidential, personalized mentoring.3.MPOWIR website: The website serves as a repository of resources for mentoring and physical oceanography careers.4.Databases and surveys: Regular surveys are conducted to assess the effectiveness of MPOWIR activities, determine community mentoring needs, and evaluate progress in retention.5.Town hall meetings and networking: Events at the Ocean Sciences meeting facilitate networking between physical oceanographers and provide career development information to junior scientists.The website and town hall meetings are open to all, and great emphasis is placed on making material available via the website, to ensure a gender-neutral benefit. Efforts to export the MPOWIR model to other disciplines and institutions will be undertaken via links with the Earth Science Women's Network, and through a quarterly newsletter. Social media will be used to publicize MPOWIR activities, announcement and events. This work, through its focus on the retention of women in the field of physical oceanography, will allow further capitalization on the investment the funding agencies and universities have made on the education of women students. Essentially, the planned activities seek to stem the loss of intellectual capital for the physical oceanographic field, as well as other geoscience disciplines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.