The newly created Early Career Ecologist Section of the Ecological Society of America is to organizing a mentoring program for the upcoming ESA meeting in Baltimore. ESA can be a big and intimidating meeting for students and postdocs. Let’s face it, many of us are socially awkward and meeting new people can be hard – especially if the people you want to meet are more senior. The aim of the mentoring program is to help overcome that social activation energy by pairing each mentee with a more senior scientist who will happily interact with you on research and career issues and (hopefully) help introduce you around to other people you might be interested in meeting with. The program is open to all career paths and ecological fields and is open to senior graduate students (~1 year from graduation) and early postdocs (< 4 years postdoc experience). More info on the program and applying for it can be found here

Oh, and there is financial support to help defray registration costs for the mentees in the program.

And you more senior scientists? The section is also looking for mentors. If you are interested in being involved as a mentor (I know I am), then contact the section and volunteer! I know they are hoping to get people from a diverse array of job types (government, NGOs, academics, consulting firms, whatever) representing a diverse array of racial and gender role models. They are looking to create as diverse a mentor pool as possible to give the mentees a wealth of choices to pick from. IF you want to know more about the mentor side of things, more info can be found here

The above links (plus additional info) can also be found on the Early Career Sections website,  under  “Centennial Mentoring Program” header.

You can also contact the Early Career Ecologist Section directly via twitter (@esa_earlycareer) or email (earlycareer@esa.org)

The deadline for applying is: 8 pm PST on Feb 28 2015