Participant Checklist

What to do in preparation for the workshop for Early Career Faculty in the Geosciences

To help you get the most out of the workshop for Early Career Faculty in the Geosciences, we ask that you do several things in advance. Here's a list of those preparatory activities and their deadlines:
By April 15:

• Optional: Workshop attendees who will not receive registration or travel support from their home institution are encouraged to apply for a stipend to help defray the cost of attending the workshop. Please note that stipends are NSF-funded, so only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible. The deadline for stipend applications is April 15, 2024. Stipends will be paid after the workshop and do not affect the fee paid up front. We will notify you of your stipend application status shortly after you apply for the stipend and before the workshop registration and fee payment is due.

By May 1:

• Register and submit your registration fee payment for the workshop. This includes choosing concurrent sessions; see the workshop program for descriptions of the sessions. The registration form also asks you to upload a photo of yourself for a participant information document, which will be made available to workshop participants and leaders. This really helps workshop leaders and participants get to know each other more quickly. These photographs will be modified to fit a standard size, which will be small. If possible, please select a photo that features your face (a head shot) instead of one where you are relatively small within a landscape.
  
  The registration fee includes an NAGT membership through 12/31/2024 (an $85 value). The NAGT/On the Cutting Edge program charges registration fees to recoup partial costs of the workshops. These fees pay for web conferencing costs, leadership and management costs, and contribute to the cost of creating and maintaining the website.
  
  Note that stipends are reimbursed after the workshop and will not affect the fee that is paid upfront.
• If you are going to the virtual NSF visit, take a look at the NSF virtual visit schedule and choose your sessions using the NSF Session Choices Form. If you have any questions about the NSF visit and/or individual appointments, please ask Gretchen Miller at earlycareer.geosci@gmail.com

Cancelation deadline: May 15

• Note: No refunds will be made if you withdraw from the workshop after May 15, 2024. Exceptions will only be made in cases of extreme personal hardship. If you withdraw before the deadline it will be possible to obtain a partial refund. Please contact the workshop conveners, Jennifer Anderson, Gretchen Miller, and Martin Wong (earlycareer.geosci AT gmail.com) immediately if you realize you will be unable to attend the workshop.

By May 20:

• Inform us of your travel plans and housing needs using this form. For information on travel options, see the logistics page.
• Upload a research proposal summary OR a teaching assignment / activity for feedback during the Wednesday afternoon sessions. For Wednesday afternoon, you registered for either the 'Improving Research Proposals' or 'Improving Class Activities and Assignments' session. For these sessions, you will need to submit your materials through the website before May 20. Every year, participants tell us that the feedback and review sessions are one of the most valuable parts of the workshop. You will receive feedback from other participants in the workshop and from workshop leaders.
  • For "Improving Research Proposals": Use the proposal summary upload form to submit your research proposal summary. (Read the proposal instructions first!) Participants who submit these proposal summaries in advance will get to have them reviewed by one or more of the workshop leaders.
  • For "Improving Teaching Activities and Assignments": Use the assignment upload form to submit your teaching activity or assignment.
• If you do not recall for which session you registered or you wish to change the session that you will attend, please send a note to Monica Bruckner (mbruckne AT carleton DOT edu).

Prior to the workshop:

• Review the materials in the "Before the Workshop" section of the Workshop Program
• Create a SERC account, if you do not yet have one. You can do so by filling out the form on the right side of this account page. Please note that your access to private workshop web spaces is tied to the email address associated with your SERC account, so please use the same email you had registered with or contact Monica Bruckner (mbruckne AT carleton DOT edu) if you need to make adjustments.
• Optional: If you know of a good resource for early career faculty in the geosciences, please suggest a book for our virtual bookshelf.
• Optional: Share your wisdom with your colleagues. Based on your experience, what advice do you have for other early career faculty members about time management or work-life balance, or for graduate students and post-docs about the academic job search process?
• If you are going to participate in the virtual NSF visit, keep reading... Otherwise, that's it.

Preparing for Your Visit to NSF

We suggest that you do the following before the workshop:

• Review the NSF visit schedule and think about which sessions you most want to attend when there are concurrent sessions. It is also recommended that you watch this Navigating NSF and GEO Video (21 minutes) by Dr. Jennifer Wade, Program Director, Division of Earth Sciences, prior to the NSF visit.
• Think about your questions and bring them with your ideas and your energy. Spending time with NSF staff is always a mind-expanding experience (and a lot of fun, especially if you are well-prepared!). The program directors are top-notch scholars with their fingers on the pulse of the action in their respective fields. Meeting them is a great learning opportunity and can help you to clarify your research plans and figure out your next steps. It is their job to meet with members of the scientific community and they enjoy their work.
• Dress professionally
• We strongly encourage everyone to schedule an individual meeting with the appropriate program director after the workshop. Participants who met individually with program directors after prior workshops, even participants whose ideas about a potential project were very general, found that the program directors were very helpful in providing feedback for the project.
  • Prepare a two-page bio/resume (NSF style bio sketch instructions can be found here, there is a new way of making a bio sketch that conforms with other federal agencies via SciENcv)
  • Think about how you will introduce yourself to your program director in about one minute. Your introduction should include: a) name and affiliation, b) disciplinary expertise, and c) your research area or topic including why you think it is an important topic (e.g. relevance to society).
  • Be ready to speak concisely about your favorite one or two research proposal ideas. (You can give them copies of your proposal summary if you have one). Be able to clearly state the goal or hypothesis, how this fits within your larger research direction or program, the benefits of this type of research, and how you will accomplish it.