Award Abstract # 1140182
RCN-SEES: The Global Research Network on Women and Sustainability: Mentoring underrepresented women and women from developing countries in research on environmental sustainability

NSF Org: OAC
Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
Recipient: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: August 29, 2011
Latest Amendment Date: October 9, 2014
Award Number: 1140182
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Sushil K Prasad
OAC
 Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
CSE
 Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date: December 1, 2011
End Date: August 31, 2017 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $749,697.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $749,697.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2011 = $749,697.00
History of Investigator:
  • Gillian Bowser (Principal Investigator)
    gillian.bowser@colostate.edu
  • Lyn Branch (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Robin Reid (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Elizabeth Davis (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Alice Madden (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • John Hayes (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Colorado State University
601 S HOWES ST
FORT COLLINS
CO  US  80521-2807
(970)491-6355
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: Colorado State University
200 W Lake
Fort Collins
CO  US  80523-1499
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LT9CXX8L19G1
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE
Primary Program Source: 01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1664, 8060
Program Element Code(s): 723100
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070

ABSTRACT

This award is funded under NSF's Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) activities, which aim to address challenges of creating a sustainable world.

Attention is increasingly focused on global climate change and its impact on vulnerable populations of women and children in the form of food insecurity, the uncertainty of drought and other catastrophic international environmental events. This RCN-SEES project will broaden participation of underrepresented groups by building a global network of women scholars from different ethnic and racial groups engaged in climate change research. Through international workshops and the Global Women Scholars peer to peer mentoring program, we will develop scholarly collaborations on population vulnerability, food security, and sustainability strategies. These research teams will act as both peer support for women scientists around the world and as a mentoring network to encourage more women and girls into the science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) disciplines. The effectiveness of these methods in educating and engaging women as climate change scientists at a global scale will be assessed enabling the project to make significant advances in our understanding of how to promote the inclusion of women in climate change and sustainability research.

We cannot solve global problems using half of the global capacity. Broadening the participation of women and members of underrepresented minorities is central to increasing U.S. competitiveness and addressing global climate change issues that have significant implications for our society. Mentoring, social networks, and peer support are important in any field but more critically needed to encourage women into the sciences. Women are under-represented in the STEM disciplines and research suggests that by providing social networks and peer support, we can increase the number of women participating as professionals in the science fields. This project focuses on creating a new generation of women scholars and promoting multidisciplinary and multi-cultural research that combines ecological, agricultural, social, and behavioral sciences related to women and sustainability.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 12)
Alnajar, S., G. Bowser, and M.A. Brown "Cultural Factors of Triple-Negative BreastCarcinomas" Cancer Research , 2014
Cid, C. & Bowser, G. "Breaking down barriers to diversity in ecology" Frontiers in Ecology , v.may , 2015
Cid, C. & Bowser, G. "Breaking down barriers to diversity in ecology." Frontiers in Ecology , v.May , 2015 , p.179
Diaz Eaton, C., Allen, D., Anderson, L.A., Bowser, G, Pauley, M.A., Williams, K.S. & Uno, G. E. "Summit of the Research Coordination Networks for Undergraduate Biology Education." CBE Life Science Educatio , v.Decembe , 2016 10.1187/cbe.16-03-0147
Garza, S. J., Bowser, G., & Wilson, K. R "Plant community changes following closure of artesian well sites in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado" Western North American Naturalist , 2015
G. Bowser, U. Gretzel, E. Davis and MA. Brown "Educating the Future of Sustainability" Journal of Sustainability , v.6 , 2014 DOI:10.3390/su60x000x
Gretzel, U., Bowser, G. & Mann, T "Real stories about real women: Communicating role models for female students" .), Proceedings of the 6th Annual Tourism Education Futures Conference , 2012
Klemow, K., Bowser, G., Cid, C., Middendorf, G., Mourad, T., Herrick, J "Exploring Ecological Careers ? a new Frontiers series" Frontiers in Ecology and Environment , v.15 , 2017 , p.336 10.1002/fee.1508
Stoephler, T. & Bowser, G "Ecological Diplomacy: Applied careers in science diplomacy and international policy" Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution , 2018
U. Gretzel, E. Davis, G. Bowser, J. Jiang and M.A. Brown "Creating Global Leaders with sustainability mindsets-reflections on the RMSSN Summer Academy," Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism , 2014
Wilkins*, K., Bowser, G. and Moore J.C. "Celebrating single species migrations: 30 year-old birding festival in Colorado as a model for the conservation of the sandhill crane" Southwest Naturalist , v.62 , 2017
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 12)

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

The Global Womens Scholars Research Network (GWRN) engaged scholars on issues relating to women and sustainability. The GWRN used a mixture of workshops, leadership events and research projects to focus on issues of sustainability related to ecosystem services, sustainability policy and practice and climate adaptation strategies. GWRN also focused on creating a new generation of women scholars by forming mentoring teams in increase the persistence of women in science, and promote multidisciplinary and multi-cultural research that combines social, political, ecological, and agricultural sciences related to women and sustainability. Specifically, goals of GWRN are to: (1) build a mentoring network that is geographically dispersed, interdisciplinary, and culturally diverse;(2)  create interdisciplinary and collaborative research teams focused on women and sustainability; and (3) test the network efficacy for metrics associated with persistence in the sciences including interviews of women leaders and professionals in the sciences. 

The intellectual outcomes of the GWRN was to create a network of interdisciplinary scholars who conducted interviews world wide on women leadership using semi-structured interviews and survey questions. The results of this research were published and also used to design additional proposals focused on women in STEM.  One proposal led to the creation of women reserach teams looking at data, discovery and diversity where all female teams conducted field research as an introduction to the sciences. These teams worked in several national parks on pollinators and demonstrated in part the ability to attract and retain underrepresented women of color through mentoring teams in the field.

GWRN also hosted workshops on women's leadership at George Washington University,  University of Colorado Law School, University of Florida and at Great Sand Dunes National Park. These workshops focused on leadership--looking forward  on field experiences for women as well as reflectiing on past issues for women in field camps or remote settings. The Women's Summit for Science, hosted at Great Sand Dunes National Park had 50 participants in an isolated field setting. This Summit creating an atmosphere of trust and safety that allowed participants to discuss issues such as sexual harassment in laboratories, field camp harassment, and similar in a safe and supportive environment.

GWRN has also been the starting point for international collaborations  including the Southern Cone conference led by University of Florida that supports Latina women in ecological scholarship. GWRN was also part of a three year USAID PEER proposal with University of Jordan and Jordan Scientific Society on mentoring women in the Arab World.  GWRN hosted international student interns including two women from France (University of Dijon) and one from Peru (La Molina University.

The broader impacts of the GWRN was an exploration into issues regarding intersectionality of race and gender in natural resource sciences and the field of sustainability.  The common metric of the field experience is a milestone for many disciplines and yet the field experience may be a challenge to some participants based on their gender, race and the intersections of both.  To increase the participation of women in STEM disciplines who are also from different racial and ethnic groups is an emerging challenge. 

 

 


Last Modified: 12/28/2017
Modified by: Gillian Bowser

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