MentorNet, the E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science, a nonprofit organization, joins with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Geological Society of America (GSA), the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the American Geological Institute (AGI), which is a federation of 44 Geosciences societies, and the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program, a long-established collaboration of programs focused on enhancing diverse participation in atmospheric sciences, to implement a two-year planning and implementation project to expand mentoring opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and early career faculty in geosciences fields. The goal of the project is to open up many more beneficial mentoring opportunities in geosciences, particularly between students and working professionals, with a special focus on women and others underrepresented in these fields, using MentorNet's e-mentoring infrastructure, which is designed to support one-on-one mentoring between students and professionals on a large scale. Building upon existing knowledge and practices in the field, while learning about the features of the infrastructure designed to support one-on-one mentoring relationships, and tapping its own networks, a Geosciences Mentoring Advisory Council will build a consortium of organizations to support and further develop participation in mentoring among students and professionals in geosciences. By design, this project can expand to engage any number of interested institutions of higher education, corporations, government labs and agencies, professional societies, and other nonprofit organizations interested in advancing mentoring in the geosciences.
