Conference: Networks of success to broaden participation in the environmental sciences.

As global change disrupts Earth’s climate, biodiversity, water resources, and food systems, more diverse and inclusive science teams are needed to develop sustainable environmental solutions. This award will broaden participation in science through: 1) the development of 1-on-1 and peer mentorship programs, 2) academic career advancement webinars, and 3) a conference designed to strengthen scientific networks and build interdisciplinary collaborations across ecology, evolution, environmental microbiology, the geosciences, and atmospheric and marine sciences. The meeting will invite environmental leaders, early career faculty, and trainees across the environmental sciences to come together for networking and leadership training. This project aims to help retain scientists from minoritized groups. This award will provide training on how to advance to, and succeed at, leadership positions; it will help participants build new networks and new science collaborations; and, it will create opportunities for advancing mentorship skills. The impacts of community-building, collaboration-building and professional development will improve retention and advancement into science leadership positions. Reports from government, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations have all concluded that a lack of human diversity is costly to the entire science community, and that broadening participation benefits all stakeholders. The United States is a diverse nation, yet this diversity is not reflected in the population of environmental scientists, particularly at higher ranks. Environmental science leadership positions in universities, agencies, and professional societies do not reflect the broader population. Among the evidence-based approaches to broaden participation in science are culturally-appropriate mentorship, access to opportunities, leadership training, and interventions at vulnerable points of attrition. This project blends these approaches with year-long mentorship, networking, and professional development programming. Existing science organizations are leveraged to unite and form sustainable networks that catalyze cross-cutting scientific collaborations. All of these activities are designed with the intention of uplifting environmental scientists, combating attrition, and launching early- and mid-career researchers toward leadership and advancement. This project is supported by the Division of Environmental Biology, the Division of Biological Infrastructure, the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems - Symbiosis Infection & Immunity program, the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences - Systems and Synthetic Biology program, and the Division of Ocean Sciences - Biological Oceanography program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.