Workshop for the Design of a Mentoring Program for Junior Women in Physical Oceanography

近年来，越来越多的女性进入物理海洋学研究生院学习，目前女性研究生约占所有研究生的一半。然而，担任主要调查员职位的妇女人数并没有反映在该领域获得博士学位的妇女人数的增加。因此，招募妇女到实地工作似乎没有问题，问题在于留住那些接受过物理海洋学培训的人。这个问题并不是物理海洋学或海洋科学独有的，而是整个科学和工程领域都存在的。与其他领域一样，女性在物理海洋学领域取得成功的障碍是多种多样的。这些问题包括将家庭与事业结合起来的要求，这需要在生育黄金时期付出大量努力，配偶或伴侣之间的职业目标之间的竞争，以及缺乏足够的指导。最近的研究和调查一直表明，衡量科学成功的指标之一似乎是一个人是否有导师。自然海洋学社区不能改变家庭生活的结构，也不能对科学事业的结构进行重大的组织变革，但它可以开始在指导女性初级科学家方面发挥作用。因此，这里建议启动一个社区运营的指导计划，目的是留住更多的女性在物理海洋学领域。为了设计有效的指导计划，需要物理海洋学社区的广泛部分的投入，以及社区外那些专门从事指导的人的投入。因此，作为创建这一指导计划的第一步，将召开一次研讨会，明确目的是设计这样一个计划。这项提议的目的是为物理海洋学社区设计这个指导计划，基本上是作为一个试点项目，如果成功，可能会扩大到未来海洋科学的所有领域都包括女性和少数族裔。更广泛的影响：这一拟议的讲习班侧重于留住物理海洋学领域的妇女，将使供资机构和大学对女学生教育所作的投资得到进一步的资本化。从本质上讲，这项拟议的工作旨在阻止来自物理海洋领域的智力资本的损失。它还将通过帮助留住女性在物理海洋学领域的工作，帮助努力创造一支多样性与学生人口相匹配的科学劳动力队伍，在更广泛的意义上，与美国整体人口的多样性相匹配。

In recent years, women have been going to graduate school in physical oceanography in increasing numbers, with women currently making up approximately half of all graduate students. However, the number of women in principal investigator positions does not reflect the increase in the number of women attaining their Ph.D. in the field. Thus, there does not appear to be a problem with recruiting women to the field, rather, the problem lies with the retention of those that are trained in physical oceanography. This problem is not unique to physical oceanography nor to ocean sciences, rather it occurs throughout the sciences and engineering. The barriers to success for women in physical oceanography, as in other fields, are varied. These include the demands of combining a family with a career that requires a large amount of effort during prime childbearing years, the competition between the career goals of a spouse or partner, and the lack of adequate mentoring. Recent studies and surveys have consistently shown that one of the indicators of success in science seems to be whether or not an individual has a mentor. The physical oceanographic community cannot change the structure of family life nor make major organizational changes to the structure of scientific careers, however it can begin to make a difference in the mentoring of women junior scientists. Thus, it is proposed here to initiate a community-run mentoring program for the purpose of retaining more women in the field of physical oceanography. In order to design an effective mentoring program, the input of a broad segment of the physical oceanographic community is needed, as well as the input of those outside of the community whose expertise is focused on mentoring. Thus, as a first step toward the creation of this mentoring program, a workshop will be convened for the express purpose of designing such a program. The intent of this proposal is to design this mentoring program for the physical oceanography community essentially as a pilot project that, if successful, could be expanded to include women and minorities in all areas of ocean sciences at a later date. Broader Impacts: This proposed workshop, 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 the universities have made on the education of women students. Essentially, this proposed work seeks to stem the loss of intellectual capital from the physical oceanographic field. It will also aid efforts to create a scientific workforce whose diversity matches that of the student population and, in a broader sense, that of the U.S. population as a whole, by aiding the retention of women in the field of physical oceanography.