MPOWIR (Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention) is a community-led program aimed at providing mentoring to junior women in physical oceanography in order to improve their retention in the field. Initiated in 2004, the MPOWIR program has been in full gear, working on the objectives of the program, as determined by the community in a planning workshop in the fall of 2005: (1) to provide continuity of mentoring from a young woman's graduate career, through her postdoctoral years to the first years of her permanent job, (2) to establish a collective responsibility within the physical oceanography community for the mentoring of junior women in the field, (3) to provide a variety of mentoring resources and mentors on a variety of issues, (4) to cast a wide net to avoid exclusiveness and (5) to open this mentoring program to all those who self-identify as a physical oceanographer. This proposal is for the continuation and enrichment of MPOWIR activities. Specifically, the following MPOWIR activities will be continued and expanded:
1. The Pattullo Conference: The centerpiece of the MPOWIR effort, this conference aims to provide advice to junior women on developing their research programs; build community with peers and senior scientists; and expose senior scientists to the culture and concerns of junior women. 2. MPOWIR website: This website is the central place for information on MPOWIR activities and is intended to provide mentoring opportunities to all physical oceanographers regardless of gender. 3. Databases and surveys: Data collection and surveys are used to establish retention statistics and to quantitatively assess and track the impact of MPOWIR activities. 4. Mentoring groups: These groups provide both peer and traditional mentoring on a smaller, more intimate basis. 5. Town Hall meetings and socials: These events facilitate networking between physical oceanographers and provide career development information to junior scientists.
Additionally, the reach of the MPOWIR program will be broadened by adding three new elements: an increasing focus on gender-neutral mentoring; development of a mentoring workshop that can be conducted at institutions and universities; and a focus on exporting this program to other discipline-based communities.
Intellectual Merit: This proposed activity, 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, this proposed work seeks to stem the loss of intellectual capital for the physical oceanographic field, as well as other Geosciences disciplines.
Broader Impacts: This proposed work aids efforts to create a scientific workforce whose diversity more closely matches that of the student population and that of the U.S. population as a whole, by aiding the retention of women in the field of physical oceanography and other Geosciences disciplines.
MPOWIR is a community-based program that provides mentoring to physical oceanographers from late graduate school through early careers. The overall goal of MPOWIR is to make mentoring opportunities for junior physical oceanographers universally available and of higher quality by expanding the reach of mentoring opportunities beyond individual home institutions. The aim is to reduce the barriers to career development for all junior scientists in the field, with a particular focus on improving the retention of junior women. Over the past five years MPOWIR has expanded significantly. This funding cycle saw the development and enhancement of MPOWIR’s programs and outreach opportunities. MPOWIR’s main programmatic offerings are: mentor groups, a biannual conference, a website and blog, and town hall meetings at national events. Since 2009, MPOWIR has hosted 15 mentor groups, three Pattullo conferences, and created a website that has attracted over 50,000 visitors. MPOWIR’s mentoring groups and Pattullo conferences have reached more than 130 unique participants. Mentor Groups Mentor groups were established in the fall of 2008, and continue to gain momentum after 5 years. Since 2009, 11 groups have formed, with participants mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from Pattullo attendees. To gauge the impact of mentor groups, participants are surveyed approximately annually. Based on an extensive 2011 survey, 100% of mentoring group participants reported that they made progress on their stated scientific, professional, and personal goals. As part of these surveys, participants are asked what they value about their mentoring group, what the benefit of the mentoring group is to their current position, and they are asked questions about the logistics and setup of the groups. Based on the survey conducted in 2012, all participants rated participation in these groups a valuable experience, with particular value placed on feedback on professional development (100% Excellent to Good) and feedback on personal matters (92% Excellent to Good). Pattullo Conferences The centerpiece of the MPOWIR program is the Pattullo Conference, named for June Pattullo, the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physical oceanography. At each event, the agenda includes research talks, professional development sessions, small group activities, and a question-and-answer session about early-career and retention issues posed by junior scientists to senior researchers. Pattullo Conference participants are surveyed after each conference about their experience. This survey asks participants to rate their opinion on specific topics and invites comments. Combining results from three conferences, 99% of junior participants would recommend the conference to another junior scientist. Of the junior participants, 92% rated the conference as "extremely valuable" overall, with a particular value placed on networking and professional development opportunities. Overall Impact To gain a better perspective on the success of MPOWIR to date, early participants were surveyed in 2013 about their current position, and the impact of MPOWIR on their career path. Individuals were asked to rank the extent to which MPOWIR had impacted various aspects of their professional growth. These aspects included efforts to obtain their current position; exposure to professional development skills; broadening of their professional network; mentoring on work and family balance; performance in current position; and raising awareness of mentoring in career development. Participants overwhelming indicated that MPOWIR had positively impacted all of these aspects. In particular, 95% of respondents expressed that MPOWIR exposed them to useful professional development skills "to a great extent" and 89% consider MPOWIR to have positively impacted their professional network "to a great extent". Of those surveyed, the majority of participants were 2 years from their Ph.D. at the time of initial involvement. Their current job positions are well distributed over all post-Ph.D. categories: the greatest percentages of positions held are at research institutions (non-academic) or government agencies (29.3%), followed closely by non-faculty research positions at universities (27.6%) and faculty at research universities (22.4%). The remaining positions held (4-year college faculty, profit or not-for-profit company, policy, and graduate students) collectively total 19%. These initial indications point toward mentoring, as offered by MPOWIR, as an effective means for improving retention of women in physical oceanography.
