NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Hosts Women's Science Group
Barry Reichenbaugh
Office of Communications
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
At a 2002 science conference in Washington, DC, NOAA scientist Dr. Arlene Fiore and five of her colleagues had an idea to start a peer-mentoring network to foster the involvement of women in earth sciences. In just six years, the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) has grown to more than 600 members in nine countries. Most ESWN members work at major universities, government agencies, and research organizations.
Fiore, a research physical scientist at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, NJ, and her colleagues initially formed the network as a resource for women in the early stages of their earth sciences careers.
"We were personally inspired by our peers’ successes,” Fiore said, “so we began reaching out to other women earth scientists, and have been surprised by the rapid growth of ESWN in recent years. I think it speaks to the value of informal peer-mentoring and the in-person connections facilitated by events that we organize at professional meetings."
Pictured from left to right: ESWN board members Kim Popendorf (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Tracey Holloway (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Christine Wiedinmyer (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Allison Steiner (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), Arlene Fiore (NOAA/GFDL), Meredith Hastings (University of Washington & Brown University), Galen McKinley (University of Wisconsin-Madison), MPOWIR representative Victoria Coles, and NOAA OAR representatives Cassandra Barnes and Sandra Knight. Missing from the photo are ESWN board members Erika Marin-Spiotta (UC Santa Barbara,UC Santa Cruz, USDA), Amanda Staudt (National Wildlife Federation), Agatha De Boer (University of East Anglia School of Environmental Science), NSF ADVANCE representative Laura Kramer and COACh representative Geraldine Richmond.
One of the organization’s strongest supporters is Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR).
"I first met with Arlene and the other ESWN founders at the December 2006 Fall American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, and I was impressed with the group’s enthusiasm and their purpose,” said Spinrad. “We need groups like ESWN as we at NOAA continue our efforts to attract and retain women scientists and increase the diversity of our workforce.”
The group recently held its first official leadership board meeting, sponsored by OAR, at GFDL March 16-18, 2008. Leaders from other groups that support women in science careers were invited as external consultants to share insight and advice with the ESWN Leadership Board and discussed ways the organizations can partner and share resources. Represented at the meeting were the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program, Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention (MPOWIR), the Committee On the Advancement of Women in Chemistry (COACh).
Drs. Sandra Knight and Cassandra Barnes, of NOAA OAR, gave an overview of NOAA’s needs and directions, beginning a dialogue that continued throughout the meeting on areas where ESWN might team with NOAA to help recruit and retain women scientists within the organization.
The second day of the meeting, the ESWN Board and external consultants were joined by area ESWN members for an informal networking breakfast. The group discussed the challenges that women in science face, which of those challenges are shared by men, and how men, and women, in science can help to create a scientific community that encourages and advances women.
A white paper outlining the outcomes of the discussions at the board meeting, as well as the future needs of ESWN, will be posted on the ESWN web site (http://www.sage.wisc.edu/eswn/).