Strategies for increasing diversity in the ocean science workforce through mentoring

Abstract

Establishing and maintaining a diverse US workforce that fully engages all populations represents a tremendous opportunity not only for furthering ocean science-related enterprises but also for cultivating future global ocean science leaders who collaborate effectively to make discoveries, achieve solutions, and develop technologies. A growing body of evidence suggests that a more diverse professional US workforce that better reflects the nation’s demographics can be achieved through numerous strategies aimed at effectively recruiting, supporting through graduation, and facilitating the increased participation of underrepresented minorities in Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences (and other related) graduate degree programs. To provide background and context for understanding the diversity challenge, we first describe expectations for the future US population and compare these projections to information about today’s demographic realities and the situation for the geosciences (including the ocean sciences) in particular. Descriptions of several specific implementations provide examples of successful strategies and reflect the research-based positive factors shown to foster increased engagement of underrepresented minorities.