Student Preparation for Success in Career Paths

NCAS-M will prepare students for success in their career paths through:

  1. student-faculty mentoring program,
  2. NOAA experiential learning and collaborative research through the summer program, and
  3. advanced research training programs that will address data science and skill development.

Student-faculty mentoring will be year-long and will involve:

  1. conducting and reporting on student and faculty assessments, and
  2. mentor/mentee training.

Additionally, throughout the year, there will be webinars to address advanced research skill development (e.g., GIS training, computer modeling) and professional skill development (e.g., submitting to a peer reviewed journal, competencies required to work at NOAA).

NOAA Experiential ReSEARCH and Training Opportunity (NERTO)

The NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunity (NERTO) is a CAMSIE graduate student requirement during the two-year fellowship. This unique NOAA mission experiential training experience integrates academics with practical NOAA mission-relevant experiential training.

NCAS-M Mentor Program

Role of NOAA Mentor

The role of the NOAA mentor, in collaboration with the NCAS-M academic center mentor, is to assure the NOAA mission-relevance of the NCAS-M fellow’s research project. The NOAA mentor may also provide and/or support guidance for NCAS-M fellows to enhance their development of skills and competencies for the NOAA mission future workforce.

NCAS-M Mentor Program

NOAA mentors will be selected from all NOAA line offices. Academic mentors will be assigned by students’ home institution academic departments. The NCAS-M Mentor Program will involve:

  1. Mentor recruitment, matching, and training to a) create a work plan with specific recruitment objectives, actions, and timelines to achieve NCAS-M program goals, b) develop a process and criteria to select and match NOAA mentors and mentees based on the mentor’s background and experience, and mentee’s interests and preparation, and c) implement an ongoing NCAS-M mentor training program that produces the greatest positive effects on mentees.
  2. Delivery of mentoring services to a) require NOAA mentors to commit to meet quarterly with their mentees, b) provide NOAA mentors with ongoing support to arrange one-on-one time (virtual or face-to-face) with their mentees to include check-ins, c) ensure that NOAA mentors and academic center mentors are collaborating.
  3. Monitoring program effectiveness to a) monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the NCAS-M Mentor Program on an ongoing basis by establishing measurable outcomes for the NOAA mentor/mentee relationship, and b) use key indicators to assess the impact of NCAS-M mentoring by using both process and outcome evaluations.