OSM 2024

Speakers: Sonya Legg , Director, Center for Ocean Leadership . Lisa Beal, Professor, University of Miami. Erin Hackett, Professor, Coastal Carolina University. . Victoria Coles, Professor, UMCES. Susan Lozier, Georgia Institute of Technology

Victoria Coles: I was really lucky to become involved and MPOWIR at the outset in our very first meeting at the Airlie center. And it did change my career trajectory even though I was technically not one of the early career people we were trying to support, just knowing how many people across our community were willing to give up two days to come together to build a program to support women in a physical oceanography. That just meant a huge amount to me.

Erin Hackett: MPOWIR gave me the confidence to pursue my goals and dreams by providing mentors that demonstrated that it's possible to achieve those goals.

Lisa Beal: How has MPOWIR impacted my career path? Profoundly. Let me tell you a story about when I was a young scientist to illustrate. So I remember when I first came to the United States, I was in my late twenties, I had just finished my PhD in the UK and I flew 3000 miles and came to a continent where I knew nobody. And I started my postdoc and I remember my postdoc advisor, you know, saying to me um these people, your fellow postdocs, your colleagues are not your friends, you're competing with them for grant money. And I remember feeling so alienated by that, that, you know, quite honestly, I was ready to leave the field. I had never met any female physical oceanography professors. I didn't feel like I was a pretty kind of uh uh punky girl and I didn't feel like I had any role models. And so MPOWIR was so important to me at that early career stage because I met a community, I met a community of people um who wanted to help me and welcome me to the field. And that was just profound

Sonya Legg : MPOWIR had an enormous impact on my career. First participating as a mentor group leader. And then as a Pattullo, senior scientist, I was connected with other women in the field at a time when at my own department, there were very few women working. This gave me a sense of community. And I also learned a lot from my mentor group, for example, Some of the mentor group members taught me what the field is like for young people and early career people in our field at the moment. I also learned about a different variety of job options, not just academia and I learnt about useful tools like Twitter. Then when Susan Lozier asked me to consider co-leading an MPOWIR mentor group that likely changed my career direction forever. First, she gave me a leadership role, a leadership opportunity and that encouraged me to think how I could be part of changing the culture in our field. And this is work that I hope I can continue in my new job at the Center for Ocean Leadership. And I also have to say that the negotiations workshop at the Pattullo Conference, especially the one given by Valerie Hickey likely helped me in, in negotiating for my current position.

Victoria Coles: Through MPOWIR. I met a diverse community of early career and mid career and late stage career women and had the opportunity to share both experiences, to get advice, to receive advice. That that connection was really transformative for me.

Sonya Legg : One of the unique things about MPOWIR is how sustained it has been as a community effort and many other interventions intended to improve the community in some way or other start up, they get a little way towards their goal and then they stop. But MPOWIR has now been going for almost two decades. And I think it's incredible to have colleagues who are people who I first met as um MPOWIR, mentor, group participants or at Pattullo Conferences, people who are now sitting with me on panels and in leadership roles and so on. It's so great to see how the community has grown together through the sustained effort.

Erin Hackett: MPOWIR provides so much diversity and exposure to such a wide range of career trajectories in the field.

Lisa Beal: Oh, how is how is MPOWIR unique? You know, it was 20 years ago and MPOWIR introduced me to education about biases in the workplace, to professional development, to how to facilitate a meeting, to how to be a good leader. These are all things that are have now become offered at my university, the University of Miami 20 years later. but MPOWIR was was offering these things back then. And that's pretty unique.

Victoria Coles: Community.

Erin Hackett: Inclusive.

Sonya Legg : MPOWIR is a community.

Lisa Beal: MPOWIR in one word. That's easy community.

Sonya Legg : I think one of the amazing things about MPOWIR is how many people have been involved volunteering their time in one way or another. And that's what has really made it an enormously supportive community network. So I want to thank all the people who have in some way or another contributed their time and their effort to MPOWIR.

Hi, my name is Erica McPhee Shaw. My first interaction with MPOWIR was when I attended a Pattullo Conference as a senior scientist and I really loved it. Besides mentoring, oh, sorry, besides meeting a ton of great people, I learned many skills and that they were things I'd never contemplated before, even though I was supposed to be a senior scientist. The mentoring groups have also been wonderful. I was co-mentor for several years and the relationships we developed were great because they were dependable. I saw that during a span of time, there were young people looking for jobs and they were contemplating moves around the country. And what I feel was that the group really helped junior scientists bounce ideas off of each other. They were there for each other, not really just looking towards us as mentors, but, but the relationships they developed were great and it's been fun to see everyone at conferences in the years since if

Lisa Beal: Through the years, I've had an opportunity not just to benefit from MPOWIR, but to give back to MPOWIR by being a mentor. And actually, it turns out that that's almost been more rewarding. That's almost the most rewarding, isn't it to give back? And after so many years in the field, I see so many successful women who I met in mentoring groups or met at MPOWIR conferences. And it's just exciting to have been a small part of their success.

Susan Lozier: Way back when, when MPOWIR was in the launch phase, we needed a name. Victoria Coles first came up with MPOWIR spelled with an E Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Enhance Retention. I'm embarrassed to admit this now. But some of us on that first steering committee and probably I should take the blame. Thought that name was a bit too strong, perhaps too brash, too powerful. We didn't want to be so bold about our intentions. So we settled on MPOWIR with an 'I' Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention. Now, after all these years, all these careers launched connections made and networks built. MPOWIR has more than earned that E MPOWIR has empowered me and hopefully you to do what needed to be done, say what needed to be said and build what needed to be built, what power we have. I encourage all of you to continue to use that power for the good of our community. Our mission to make the Physical Oceanography community open to and inclusive of everyone continues to be MPOWIRs, bold, brash and powerful purpose, whether with an I or an E MPWIR has become so much more than I ever imagined it would be. Thank you, all of you, for making it so.