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.
