Everything is bigger in Texas - even SWMS!
When you ask people from other parts of the country what comes to mind when you think of Texas, you’ll probably hear stuff like: cowboys, farms, football, oil, and a number of other things before you get to the ocean. At least that’s what I thought before moving here. But since arriving in Texas, I found that the lone star state is home to a thriving and diverse group of marine scientists. However, unlike other SWMS chapters not all of us are at institutions that have large marine science departments, and in some cases we might be the only marine scientists at our institution. So when starting TX SWMS, we knew it had to be bigger than just one university. After all, everything is bigger in Texas right?
Last summer we set out to put together the Texas chapter of SWMS. In less than one year we have reached 80+ members at 17 institutions (both academic and non-academic). Our chapter has five main goals:
Networking, Collaboration, and Community
One of the toughest parts about being a marine scientist in a state as big as Texas is finding a community or network of marine scientists to connect with. As a chapter, we aim to build a network of marine scientists across the state, to better enable collaboration and knowledge sharing across institutions.
Professional Development & Skill Development
Our chapter encompasses members from all career stages. We aim to provide professional development resources and workshops that are applicable to a wide array of career stages to help members achieve their career goals.
Mentorship & Sponsorship
Mentorship comes in many different forms at every career stage. As a chapter, we will build and provide resources for identifying mentors and sponsors at different career stages and will generate resources on how to be a good mentor for students across all backgrounds.
Career Exploration
As a statewide chapter, we have branched beyond academic institutions to involve individuals across academia, government, industry, and more. By encompassing all of these fields, we will expose members of our chapter to a wide diversity of career paths and will help connect members to a wide array of research opportunities at varying career levels across the state.
Outreach
Texas is a large state, which provides us with a great opportunity to connect with a wide range of diverse communities through outreach events. Through hosting outreach events with local communities, zoos, aquariums, and more, we can promote the great marine science research taking place across this state and hopefully increase the participation of underrepresented groups in marine science.
TX SWMS is continuing to grow and will soon be organizing our own events to meet our chapter goals and support our membership. Our leadership team is composed of early career scientists including, students, postdocs, research associates, and assistant professors. We are excited to see what our future holds and to stay fully up to date on our chapter activities, check out our chapter website!