C-MORE Professional Development Training Program for Graduate Students and Post-Docs
Abstract
The Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) is a National Science Foundation-sponsored Science and Technology Center. C-MORE comprises six partner institutions: University of Hawaii (headquarters), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University, University of California at Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. C-MORE's Professional Development Training Program is aimed at equipping graduate students and post-docs at all six institutions with the skills and experiences needed to maximize their potential and succeed in their professional careers. This program is administered through the C-MORE Education Office and was developed in close collaboration with graduate students, post-docs, and faculty. This program has formal but flexible requirements. There is only one required module (Outreach). The seven optional modules include: Science Communication, Leadership, Mentoring, Teaching, Research Exchange, Diversity and Proposal Writing. Masters students choose three optional modules; Ph.D. students and post-docs choose five. Most modules consist of a training component, followed by a practical component. All participants will are expected to complete program evaluations. Below are some examples of program offerings: Science Communication Module In partnership with the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, C-MORE organized three Science Communication workshops at the University of Hawaii, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These workshops train participants to distill their research into language that is free of jargon and accessible to a general audience. After the training, participants are asked to produce a communication product based on their research, such as a magazine article, press release, podcast or a blog. Diversity Module To date, C-MORE has organized three teleconferences on diversity, attended by participants across the partner institutions. The first conference discussed two papers on racial and gender bias. The second conference examined the MIT gender equity study on faculty salaries. A key "take-home" message is that we all have biases and we need to recognize them in order to ensure fairness. Participants seemed surprised to learn that there is a body of literature of double-blind experiments showing that women have to be significantly better than men to get the same treatment. The most recent (June 2012) teleconference focused on individuals with disabilities, and was facilitated by the University of Hawaii Center for Disability Studies. Following the conferences, students are asked to participate in an event or serve on a committee aimed at broadening participation. For more information on these or other modules of C-MORE's Professional Development Training Program, please visit our web site: http://cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/education/grads-postdocs/index.htm
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMED51B0888B
- Keywords:
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- 0810 EDUCATION / Post-secondary education;
- 0855 EDUCATION / Diversity;
- 4800 OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL