Advancing Polar Science by Supporting Early Career Researcher Development

This project will create a community hub dedicated to advancing excellence in polar science by supporting the development of the next generation of polar researchers in the United States. This hub will focus on science leadership development by providing early career researchers with training in leadership skills, cutting-edge research areas (e.g., artificial intelligence and polar sciences), and special considerations for working at the Poles. This hub will equip the next generation of U.S. polar scientists with the skills they need to actively participate in and lead polar science efforts—positioning the U.S. as a leader in international polar science efforts. The hub will leverage established national and international partnerships and will engage hundreds to thousands of early career researchers through educational resources and programming, regional network building, and workshops to help early career researchers develop the skills they need to thrive within the polar science workforce. This hub forms the foundation for excellence in polar science by building a highly skilled, interdisciplinary, and well-connected early career workforce with the goal to ready this community to address complex scientific and strategic challenges in the polar regions. Because the early career community is continually evolving, the hub will serve a dynamic and shifting population whose needs and interests change over time. Through structured programming, including running in-person networking events and workshops alongside conferences, and skills development through online events in frontier research areas, cross-disciplinary literacy and collaboration, and convergence research, this hub will prepare early career researchers to become leading scientific experts. The project will result in transferable models for building capacity in interdisciplinary research communities, understanding and responding to early career needs and priorities, and developing tools that enrich the polar science ecosystem in a way that best supports the next generation of scientists. 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.