BAMOS
Dec 2018
The program is delivered remotely, via zoom, over 11 months,
and then in February, 2018 we met in Ushuaia, Argentina, to
board a recommissioned NOAA research vessel on a 3-week
expedition to Antarctica. During the voyage we spent half
of each day working on the program, and the other half on
Antarctic land visits, including visits to five research stations
where we learned about the science program and were able to
ask questions about leading in such a remote environment.
The Homeward Bound program consists of lectures, personal
and leadership development tools, coaching sessions, visibility
and science communication training and the opportunity to
develop collaborations. We all came out of the program with
insight into our individual leadership style and strategies to
make it more effective, our own personal visibility goals, and a
100 day strategy plan to put this all in place.
What I believe to be one of the fundamental outcomes of this
program is the network of Homeward Bound women now
growing globally. This network has now become a brains trust
we can all call on at any time for advice, mentoring, or simply
sharing of experiences as women working in STEMM. This
network has led to new collaborations that have resulted in
prizes, grants and publications, and I find myself continuously
benefiting from it in my career. I look forward to seeing what a
network of 1000 women can achieve at the culmination of the
Homeward Bound initiative.
A paper that came out earlier this year shows that academic
societies, like AMOS, can also play a vital role in supporting
women in leadership. The authors found that the societies
with more women in leadership positions were those that had
a visible statement of equality. They include a gender equity
check list that suggests that professional societies should,
among others: form a committee dedicated to equity and
diversity, provide written expectations for appropriate behavior
at society events, track demographic data of society members,
and communicate about inclusion, diversity and equity to the
membership.
I am fortunate to chair the Equity and Diversity committee
within AMOS and this committee has made significant
developments into our society’s culture around equity.
However, we still struggle to find men interested in joining the
committee, or being involved in committee events. These are
issues that cannot fall wholly on women in leadership within
a society; they cannot be seen as simply “women’s issues”, they
also require male champions of change.
I invite members of the community to consider what equity in
STEMM should look like, and encourage women to consider the
Homeward Bound program. I am more than happy to answer
any questions about the program or the application process. Or,
if you are interested in joining the AMOS Equity and Diversity
committee please drop me a line.
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