ESA Early Career Mentoring Program

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Time and Place:
9-14 August 2015, Ecological Society of America (ESA) Centennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD, USA

Description:
Conferences provide unique opportunities for biologists to interact with others in their field; however, these opportunities are rarely structured to promote meaningful interactions between the next generation of integrative ecologists and more senior scientists. Access to strong mentors both within and outside of their main institution is critical for early career ecologist support and for gaining the necessary skills to become a good mentor and to move towards the next career stages. Our semi-formal mentoring program pairs early career ecologists – advanced graduate students (within 1 year of graduating) and recent post-graduates (within 3 years of obtaining their degree) – with established ecologists in their desired career pathway, for the week of the 2015 ESA Annual Meeting. Specifically, 10 early career ecologists who apply for the program will receive funding to partially cover the cost of registration and will receive one-on-one mentoring during the ESA Centennial Meeting.

Mentoring Program:
The ESA Early Career Ecologist Section and the Centennial Committee will support a mentoring program aimed at advanced graduate students and recent postgrads to take place at ESA 2015. This program will provide participants with the following benefits:

1) an opportunity to receive evaluation and advice from their mentor on their oral presentation (on any topic or in any session) at ESA,

2) one-on-one interactions with a more senior scientist who will serve as a career mentor,

3) broad exposure of their professional profiles on the ESA (or other hosted) webpage, and

4) a continuing opportunity to expand their mentoring, and potentially collaboration, networks after the meeting has ended.

Applicants must commit to attending at least 3 full days of the ESA meeting and to giving an oral presentation.

Financial Support:
Applicants accepted into the program will receive $200 reimbursement to defray the cost of ESA registration fees and meeting-related expenses (e.g., travel and lodging).

How to Apply:
Recent postgraduates or advanced graduate students applying for the Centennial Mentoring Program should send 1 paragraph (≤ 250 words) on their career aspirations and why they would benefit from a mentoring program, a copy of their oral presentation abstract submitted for ESA 2015, and their current curriculum vitae to the Early Career Ecologist Section at earlycareer@esa.org, combined into a single PDF file. Applications should have “Mentoring Application” in the email subject line.

Deadline: 8 pm PST on February 28, 2015

For more information:
Email: Early Career Ecologist Section (earlycareer@esa.org)
Twitter: @ESA_EarlyCareer
Website: http://esa.org/earlycareer/