SOCIETY OF WETLAND SCIENTISTS DIVERSITY PROGRAM: UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING AT THE ANNUAL MEETING

Society Of Wetland Scientists, Middleton WI

Investigators

Abstract

The Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) Diversity Mentoring Program for Undergraduates is in its twelfth year. This new award will support the participation in the program of seven undergraduate students from underrepresented groups each year for the next five years. It will also continue a productive and synergistic collaboration between the much larger minority undergraduate mentoring program of the Ecological Society of America (ESA SEEDS); two participants from SWS are invited to attend the annual ESA SEEDS leadership meeting and bring their experiences back to the SWS annual meeting. SWS recognizes the need to reach out to underrepresented groups to provide intellectual opportunities for personal growth and development. Attendance at scientific meetings can often provide the intellectual spark, along with the opportunities to make contacts for the future, that encourage undergraduate students to continue their professional education beyond the Bachelors level. A major goal of the program is to open doors for these students. Diversification of ecologically oriented professionals is expected to promote better science and science applications as a result of the melding of more diverse perspectives. A summary of participant survey results will be published in the SWS bulletin, Wetland Science and Practice. Attendance of a select group of undergraduate students from underrepresented groups at an annual scientific meeting provides each student with a perspective on and exposure to the breadth and depth of wetland science and personal contacts that cannot be obtained at a single academic home institution. Because SWS spans academic, government, and private consulting sectors, students are able to tailor their daily activities to their personal interests in wetland science. A variety of strategies (social events, field trips, mentoring, career development workshops, leadership training through ESA SEEDS) will provide guidance and boost self-assurance for award recipients that will lead to greater ethnic and racial diversification of the ecological sciences. By pairing undergraduate students with graduate student or faculty mentors at both the SWS and ESA annual meetings and by providing workshops and symposia oriented toward career development, SWS is fostering active participation and discussion, key components of advancing science and promoting the intellectual development of undergraduate students.