Dear colleagues,
This is our ninth CRC Quarterly Newsletter and the last for 2018. It’s incredible to me how days can sometimes feel long but quarters always feel short. And though I’m still eating Chesapeake steamed crabs (biggest and fattest this time of year!) and will still be sailing for another month, I sorely miss those long daylight hours for cruising the Bay in spring and summer.
The GOOD NEWS, however, is that the time not spent sailing or gardening (or doing whatever it is you do in summer) is time we can spend on recruiting, advising, and mentoring the next generation of Chesapeake Bay research and management leaders, and, at the same time, helping to ensure environmental leadership that is representative of the population by encouraging and facilitating the involvement of Native Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, and first-generation college students, in general.
Toward this end, the CRC, its academic institutional members, and its two major “cooperative agreement” partners within the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership are all firmly committed to our C-StREAM (Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring) program. This CRC-inspired and cooperatively developed mentoring program is currently being financed through a combination of funding from the US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO), the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO), and the CRC itself (made possible through institutional member dues). Importantly, the program seeks not only to help train and mentor the next generation of leaders, but to do so in a very targeted way that is aimed at increasing the diversity of researchers and managers in environmental science, engineering, and management, broadly writ.
As is appropriate for the current “recruiting” season for summer research experiences and internships, the vast majority of this newsletter issue is dedicated to leadership training and diversity. Please explore and enjoy all sections of the newsletter and, IMPORTANTLY, consider how you, your employer, or others you know might participate in C-StREAM or further our objectives in your own way. Here are three ways you could assist:
- Help fund the program. This can include (1) direct donation to the CRC for this cause; (2) sponsorship of summer interns at your institution, or (3) participating with the CRC in development of the program (e.g., helping out with fund drives or writing grant proposals).
- Serve as a “host institution” for summer interns and post-program employment. In addition to the seven CRC institutions, CBPO, and NCBO, we are looking for any Chesapeake partner with on-going mentoring programs for college students, post-baccalaureate, or post-MS summer or early career opportunities for talented individuals from traditionally under-represented groups.
- Be a “home institution” for a C-StREAM Program Fellow. We expect each Fellow to partner with a faculty member who will serve as a supporter, mentor, and (ideally) research/training advisor during the academic year (between summer stages of internship and career development).
If you can help out in any of these ways or have questions about the program, please feel free to contact me directly via email or 410-798-1283.
Cheers and warm regards to all our subscribers!
Bill
November 1, 2018