MPOWIR Newsletter – August 2020

Mentor Groups:

Registration is now open! Mentor Groups consist of 6-7 graduate students or early career women and 2 senior facilitators. Groups meet monthly via conference call and offer coaching, advice and strategies for professional success.

Participation is open to physical oceanographers resident in the USA who identify as women or non-binary and are in the final years of a PhD program, or in a postdoctoral position, or in a permanent position for no more than two years. Participation is open to pursuit of all career tracks, which is broadly defined as ‘utilizing skills gained in your PhD’.

MPOWIR is also now offering mentor groups with a particular focus. At this point, there is expressed interest in a group to facilitate discussion of LGBTQ issues, and groups that meet outside of business hours (i.e. meeting in the evenings or on weekends) to better facilitate varied work schedules. We are open to exploring other opportunities, and welcome suggestions. These options, and your suggestions, can be emailed to sclem@uri.edu or entered when registering for a group.

Virtual Discussion:

Join the next conversation: Resilience and adaptability in planning during times of uncertainty on Thursday, August 27th 3:00pm EDT/12:00pm PDT. Workplace adjustments and changes in response to COVID-19 can certainly make for new challenges. Conversations are an open dialog rather than a structured webinar and we will provide some questions to consider as conversation starters. Join us and share situations and strategies you’ve honed to adapt in the face of uncertainty.

So we can best plan, please indicate your interest in joining using the form below. We are also asking for your input about topics of interest as we plan future discussions. This opportunity is open to participants who identify as women or non-binary at all career stages. Participation is confidential, and discussions will not be recorded. http://mpowir.org/get-involved/mpowir-virtual-discussions/

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within MPOWIR:

MPOWIR is taking a close look at how we can work towards a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all women and nonbinary physical oceanographers, and especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian participants. We will share the full plan, and metrics for progress, with the community later this fall after a full review with the Steering Committee.

‘Find a Speaker’ List:

MPOWIR is considering creating a publicly accessible ‘find a speaker’ list of physical oceanography seminar speakers to increase the gender parity of invited talks. Our goal is to increase awareness of women available for talks and presentations in Physical Oceanography. We also encourage you to add a profile on the larger 500 Women Scientists ‘Request a Woman in STEM’ site: https://500womenscientists.org/request-a-scientist. If you would like to be included on the MPOWIR site list, please submit your contact details below. This initiative is just getting started, so please feel free to send any feedback as well: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8D43lgXebrAM96J

MPOWIR Webinars:

The next webinar will be planned for October/November 2020. Webinars feature subjects particularly pertinent to early career scientists, especially beyond the postdoc. While topics are driven by input from early career scientists, webinars are open to all genders and all career stages. We are updating our list of ranked topics of interest for 2020-2021. Please add your input on topics of interest here by Friday, August 28th: https://uri.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aVjajjPrBsNv2U5

More details about webinars: http://mpowir.org/get-involved/webinar-series/

Pattullo Conference 2021:

Mark your calendars for October 24-27, 2021 for the next Pattullo Conference. Registration will open in early 2021. Visit http://mpowir.org/get-involved/pattullo/to learn more, and sign up to receive updates. We are currently planning to hold an in person conference. We will continue to observe how the COVID situation evolves and will consider planning to host a virtual conference if it is more appropriate.

MPOWIR Blog:

Includes job listings, and announcements of other relevant opportunities. Please visit regularly. If you are interested in contributing to the blog (http://mpowir.org/blog/), please contact Sarah Clem (sclem@uri.edu)