Award: OCE-1430015

Using funds provided by the National Science Foundation in grant OCE-1430015 æEAGER – Introducing Early Career Scientists to Research on the Great LakesÆ, the University of Minnesota Duluth was able to stage multiple workshops and take two groups of early career researchers (graduate students, post doctorial researchers, and 1st and 2nd year faculty members) out on multiday cruises on the UniversityÆs research vessel, the Blue Heron. These workshops and short cruises were undertaken to help counter two problems, one specific to the Great Lakes basin, and one impacting marine research in general. In the Great Lakes basin, researchers often underestimate their vessel and equipment needs for work on the big lakes. Since the Great Lakes can be quite dangerous in a small vessel this can endanger researchers. For the broader marine research field, there is a concern that early career scientists are not receiving the training they need in how to acquire, plan for, and manage cruises aboard the research vessels found in the U.S. academic fleet (UNOLS-University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System). With these workshop and cruises we not only gave some early career scientists the training they need to be successful Chief Scientists, but also exposed future Great Lakes researchers to researcher aboard a well-outfitted research vessel, the R/V Blue Heron. The programs were very successful. Post program assessments indicate that the participants felt the program was useful. Some comments: "I thought that this program provided insight and information on aspects of cruise planning that I was unfamiliar with in spite of 8 years of field experience. I personally found this program very insightful and it will certainly contribute toward my future plans in Academia and fieldwork. This component is critical toward a successful research career, and is still often overlooked in most academic programs." "This was a great training experience that demonstrated what is necessary to transition from 'science party' to 'chief scientist'. The Chief Scientist Training Program was an excellent opportunity and I have already recommended it to my Dept. Chair (to encourage other postdocs and students to participate) and several of my colleagues." "This was a very valuable experience, particularly in learning how to structure grants that will require ship time, and learning how to coordinate the objectives of each member of the scientific party. I think more training cruises like this would help early career scientists continue to make use of the UNOLS fleet as they become PIs in their own laboratories." Last Modified: 03/17/2016 Submitted by: Richard D Ricketts