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DISCCRS Program Report Background. The DISsertations initiative for the advancement of Climate Change ReSearch, DISCCRS is an educational and human resource program designed to catalyze interdisciplinary understanding and peer networking (http://aslo.org/phd.html). Recent PhDs are targeted so that program benefits can span a professional lifetime. DISCCRS includes biological, chemical, geological and physical science researchers and mathematicians who study atmospheric, aquatic and terrestrial sciences, human ecology, and mathematics and modeling, and who are conducting or interested in research related to climate changes and its impacts. Work is underway to reach social scientists as well. The initiative includes an international Registry of PhD dissertation abstracts which is available on-line in a fully searchable format (http://aslo.org/phd/isccrsdcite.html). An electronic newsletter transmits job and other announcements. Anyone may submit job and other announcements, by sending a message to disccrs@whitman.edu. A capstone symposium brings together 40 recent graduates who are selected through a competitive application review process. Application instructions are available at http://aslo.org/phd.html. As part of the process to register their dissertation abstract, graduates are asked to complete a demographic profile. DISCCRS is sponsored by the American
Geophysical Union (AGU), American Meteorological Society (AMS),
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and Ecological
Society of America (ESA). Relevant professional societies were
invited to sponsor the program, in order to enhance community participation
and reach graduates across disciplines. Sponsoring societies take the
lead in advertising the program. Announcements are made through society
webpages, newsletters, and listserves, and the program is highlighted
at national meetings. In addition to society advertising, e-mail announcements
and posters are sent to past program participants and U.S. institutions
which in the past have granted PhDs to program participants. Community
listservs such as the JGOFS list are also used to disseminate progam
information. The DISCCRS Program targeted graduates completing PhD degrees between January 1, 2000 - September 30, 2002. Two hundred recent grads registered with the program. The program is fully international, with 55% of the 200 registrations receiving PhD's from US institutions (Table I) and rest from abroad (Table II). Of the 200 who registered, 72 applied for the DISCCRS symposium, held March 10-15, 2003 in Guanica, Puerto Rico. Ph.D. Dissertation Citations: Click here to see Ph.D. dissertation citations for the 200 participants. Abstracts are available at http://aslo.org/phd/isccrsdcite.html. This paper summarizes results from the DISCCRS database and reports on the symposium.
Each graduate who registered a Ph.D. dissertation
abstract for the DISCCRS registry was asked to complete an on-line form
requesting demographic data. The following report summarize data from
the DISCCRS database. Citizenship: Figure
1 summarizes citizenship by region. The 200 program participants
included citizens of 40 countries: Country of PhD: Figure 2 summarizes country of PhD by region. Of the 200 participants, 109 (55%) completed their PhD in the United States. Of the 82 Americans, 76 completed their PhD in the United States. The others conducted their PhD work in Australia (1), Canada (3), and the United Kingdom (2). Of the 109 graduates from US institutions, 76 were American citizens and the others were from: Argentina (1), Canada (6), Chili (1), China (7), Cuba (1), Egypt (1), Esotonia (1), Germany (2), India (1), Malaysia (1), Nigeria (2), Portugal (1), Spain (1), Sudan (1), Turkey (1), Uruguay (1), United Kingdom (2), and two are unknown. Gender: Figure 3 presents gender data. Of the 200 participants, 63% were male and 37% were female. The 82 American citizens included 39 (48%) males and 43 (52%) females . Other nationalities included of 86 (73%) males and 32 (27%) females. Ethnicity: American DISCCRS participants included 10% from underrepresented minorities: 6 (7%) Hispanic Americans, 1 (1%) American Indian and 1 (1%) Multiethnic. Disciplinary Specialty: Thirty five percent of participants indicated their primary area of interest as oceanography, 18% terrestrial ecology, 17% atmospheric science, 13.5% limnology, 6.5% hydrology, 5.5% global science and 4% social science (Figure 4). Jobs: Figure 5 and Figure 6 document employment patterns. Graduates tend to register with the program within the first few months post degree, so most are on their first job. Of the 200 who registered with the program, most were on postdocs (63% of Americans, 75% of W. Europeans and 61% of others). Twenty-one percent of Americans and 2% of Europeans were in permanent positions, while 7% of Americans and 4% of Europeans were unemployed. Of the 6 Americans who were unemployed, 5 were women. In terms of job sector, most (73%) were in academia, 13% were employed by the Federal government, 2% non-profit, and 1% each for commercial, state government, and other (active duty). Perceptions of the job Market: Participants were asked to rate the job market. Despite the fact that most were in temporary positions, these graduates seemed quite optimistic, with 91% rating the market as neutral, good or excellent (Figure 7) and 33% rating it as good or excellent. No gender differences were apparent. Citizens of other countries appeared equally optimistic, with 89% rating the market as neutral, good or excellent. Of the 8 Americans who rated the job market as bad, 5 were unemployed, two in postdocs and 1 in a potentially permanent position. Age: Median age at PhD was 31.5 years with a range of 25.1 – 51.6 years. Of the 82 American citizens, the median age at PhD was 31.4 years with a range of 26.5 – 51.6 years; one did not report. The sample size was too small to detect any gender differences. Marriage and children. Overall, 50% of participants were married, 47% single, 1.5% separated or divorced, and 1.5% did not respond. Gender differences were found, with 40% of females and 56% of males indicating they were married. Gender differences were even more apparent among American citizens, with 72% of American males and 37% of American females indicating they were married (Figure 8). The small sample size (43 females and 39 males) makes it impossible to make generalizations, but the trend is disturbing and reinforces the data from the related DIALOG program (Weiler, 2003). Overall, 25.3% of participants reported
they had children, and gender differences were again found: Just 17%
of of the women reported having children, compared with 33% of males.
The same trend was found among American participants, with 11% of women
and 30% of men reporting they had children (Figure
9). While differences in marital status explain some of the difference
(married people are more likely to have children than single people),
there were differences even among the married participants.. Among married
American men, 43% had children, compared with 29% of married American
women. Among American participants, family size was 0.8 children per
married male, compared with 0.4 children per married female. Three American
females and 9 males did not report on marriage or family. Some of the difference may be made up with time--women participants might have been younger than men at the time of Ph.D., though the sample size was too small to detect any differences. And, for various reasons, women face more pressure than men not to marry or have children in graduate school. In 2002, a follow-up survey of DIALOG I-IV symposium participants was undertaken. This group was 1 - 10 years post Ph.D, compared with 0 - 2 years for the DIALOG V survey. Of the 102 American participants in the DIALOG I - IV symposia (48 female and 54 male), 52% of women and 59% of men reported being married, and 27% of females and 44% of males reported having children. The NSF report on 2000 graduates documents
that the percent of women in Earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences has
increased from 22% in 1991 to 30.4% in 2000. Among American DISCCRS
participants, 52% were female. While the increased representation by
women is heartening, it is sad to see that women continue to face a
penalty when it comes to marriage and children. As Rossi so eloquently
stated back in 1965, "Marriage, parenthood and meaningful work
are major experiences in the adventure of life. No society can consider
that the disadvantages of women have been overcome so long as the pursuit
of a career exacts a personal deprivation of marriage and parenthood,
or the pursuit of happiness in marriage and family life robs a woman
of fulfillment in meaningful work. DISCCRS 2003 SYMPOSIUM Obtaining a PhD degree requires extraordinary depth of training. Yet furthering the field of climate change research or working on impacts demands an exuberant breadth of knowledge as well. Simply put, the field requires more expertise than what any one person can master. Strong collaborations and contacts outside one’s specialty are desperately needed even by graduates from some of the most prestigious and forward-looking institutions in the world. The DISCCRS capstone symposium addresses this need by introducing grads to their counterparts from different parts of the world and divergent specialties. The week-long DISCCRS symposium, held March 10-15, 2003 in Guanica, Puerto Rico, provided an opportunity for recent PhDs across the physical/natural sciences to learn about cutting-edge work in a variety of disciplines. Two mentors, one representing the physical/natural sciences (Jerry D. Mahlman,UCAR) and one the social science (Ronald B. Mitchell, University of Oregon), provided overviews to provide a context for the more focused presentations of the 40 participants. Consultants provided training on communication skills, teambuilding, and communicating to a non-specialist audience. Panel discussions focused on research proposal development, job hunting, and career progression. And, working groups provided a forum for discussion on issues of importance to these recent grads. At the close of the symposium participants were asked to rate the overall experience and critique the individual components. Participants gave the overall experience a rating of 1.4 on a scale of 1 - 5 with 1 being excellent. Teamwork is such a key part of interdisciplinary research that it was surprising to learn that teambuilding and communication training are generally not included in PhD programs. To address this need, consultants at DISCCRS provided a "bootcamp" for teambuilding and communication skills. Participants gave this component a rating of 1.5 and considered it "a fundamental skill typically overlooked in our education". The main recommendation for improvement was to have the consultants present for the entire week rather than the first two days, as was done at DISCCRS. If there for the full week, they could extend training to the Working Groups held later in the week, and provide additional one-on-one and small-group traiining.. Senior professionals can provide new graduates
with an historical perspective and overview of current research, plus
a valuable "insider" view on what makes a strong job application
or tenure package. Equally important is the advice of graduates who
have recently moved into permanent positions. The combination of senior
mentors and recent grads holding a variety of positions provides an
good mix of experiences for mentoring. Participants gave this component
a rating of 1.5. The main recommendtion for improvement was to include
4 mentors in future: one mid- or late-career physical/natural scientists,
one mid- or late-career social scientist, one recently tenured academic
and one from outside academe. Plenary talks had not originally been
scheduled, but mentors came prepared and these were incorporated. These
presentations were very much appreciated, and in future should be scheduled
for the first evening. Overall, less time could have been devoted to
'group' mentoring sessions, with more time for one-on-one interactions
with the mentors. Working Groups provide opportunities for participants to talk about issues of current interest to them. More than 30 topics were proposed for discussion. Due to time limitations, not all were discussed. All participants were asked to participate in Working Groups to develop a vision of the 'Ideal' Interdisciplinary PhD Program for Climate Change Research. A report from this exercise has been prepared and is currently being submitted for publication (Drobot et al., 2003). For other topics, participants arranged themselves in groups based on their individual interests. Topics included Emerging issues in Paleoclimate; Questions of Scale; Politics of Climate Change; Implications of Climate Change on Biogeochemical Cycles; Communicating Uncertainty; Integrating Natural with Social Science; Communicating Beyond the Scientific Community; How to Advise and Mentor Undergraduate and Graduate Students and Staff; Managing a Faculty Career; and Balancing Work and Family. Time is too short to address any of these issues in great detail, but discussions set the stage for continued interactions after the symposium. This component recived an overall rating of 2.5. Overall, participants agreed they needed more of the communication training (see above). Recommendations for the future were to have the communication consultant present during the week to help facilitate the Working Group discucssions. Fae Korsmo from NSF's EPSCoR Program attended
part of the symposium to provide an overview of NSF and participate
in a Panel Discussion with Jerry Mahlman, Ron Mitchell and Sue Weiler
on proposal development. This was well received, though participants
wished that more agencies and programs had been represented. Publications from the DISCCRS program: Weiler, C.S. DISCCRS Webpage. http://aslo.org/phd.html. This page includes: Ph.D. Dissertation Registry with abstracts in a fully searchable format; Application instructions and on-line Dissertation Registration form, plus reports of interest to recent Ph.D. Recipients. Weiler, C. S. 2003. Talking Tips: Resources for preparing scientific presentations recommended by DIALOG and DISCCRS program participants. http://marcus.whitman.edu/~weilercs/TalkingTips/ Chiang, J.C.H., G.A. McKinle and K.M. Arzayus, 2003. Mentoring: Summary report of a Working Group from the DICCRS 1 Symposium. http://aslo.org/phd/mentoring.pdf Drobot, S., D. Porinchu, K. Azayus, V.
Barber, L. Delissio, Z. Eshetu, A. Ridgewell, A. Schnetzer, M. Smith,
J. Warren. 2003. The Ideal Climate Change Ph.D. Program. http://aslo.org/phd/disccrsclimatechange.pdf Kiene, R. and D. Kieber, 2003. Model for a Collaborative Research proposal http://aslo.org/phd/modelproposal.pdf. Drs. Kiene and Kieber kindly agreed to share their successfully funded proposal to use as a model for collaborative efforts. Support DISCCRS is made possible through funding from U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Earth Science and National Science Foundation, Geosciences Directorate through NSF Grant #EAR 0105201 to Whitman College. References National Science Foundation 2001. Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2000, NSF 02-305, Author, Susan T. Hill. http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm Rossi, A.S. 1965. Women in science: Why so few? Science 148:1196-1202. |