We are excited to announce the continuation of the LET’S GEO mentoring program in the department to help you develop career skills while working on your UWM Geosciences degree.  Funded by the National Science Foundation, LET’S GEO includes a variety of opportunities to participate in hands-on career training and to learn more about the many career opportunities available to students with Geoscience degrees.  To start things off, we invite you to participate in the LET’S GEO mentoring program in which current undergraduate and graduate students are paired with a mentor who is a professional geoscientist.  Each mentor/mentee pair is required to meet (either virtually or in-person) for a minimum of two hours each month and complete the required exercises (typically these will focus on planning career goals, discussing readings on mentor relationships and topics in the geosciences, etc.).  You, the student, will submit a document each month that shows completion of the meeting goals.

• Eligibility: ALL UWM students who are officially intended or declared Geosciences undergraduate majors (either BA or BS), undergraduate minors, and graduate students (MS or PhD).  You do not need to have taken many classes yet or know what you want to do for your career! 
• Student Selection: Students will be selected based on available spaces in program, available mentors, and responses to the essay questions in the application.  Priority will be given to BS and MS students closer to their graduation dates with strong grades and/or relevant research, volunteer, or other geosciences experiences.
• Time Commitment: Each month (February-May), you are required to meet with your mentor for 2 hours. You should expect to spend 1 hour each month preparing for the meetings. This totals 3 hours per month x 4 months = 12 hours. Flexible days and times.
• Extra Incentive: We know that you will gain valuable career advice and skills from these meetings and want to make sure you take advantage of the opportunity. As extra incentive, every student who completes all the required meetings and documents will receive a stipend of $200 at the end of the semester.
• Application Deadline: 11:59 PM on Friday February 4, 2022.

How to Apply:

Prior to starting the application, you will want to collect a pdf of your unofficial transcript (if there is a hold on your transcript or you otherwise cannot access it, please contact us at lets-geo@uwm.edu for help).

1. You will need to access your course and grade information to type into the online application and you will need to email the pdf.
   1. How to request an undergraduate unofficial transcript
   2. How to request a graduate unofficial transcript
   3. Please contact us at lets-geo@uwm.edu if you are unable to access your transcript due to a hold on your record.
2. You should use a word processor to write the following (you can later copy and paste into the online application form).
   1. List and provide and brief (1-2 sentence) description of undergraduate & graduate research projects
   2. List of presentations at research symposia or conferences + publications (include full citation information including: Authors, Year, Title of Presentation/Publication, Name of Conference or Journal)
   3. List of geosciences related volunteer experiences and extracurricular activities 
      
      
3. You should use a word processor to write answers to the following questions (you can later copy and paste your answers into the online application form).
   1. What attracted you to geosciences?
   2. What are your career goals? (your best ideas now, these can change!)
   3. Why do you want to be part of the mentoring program?
   4. What qualities or experiences are you looking for in a mentor?
   5. What are the most important considerations for you when choosing a job post-graduation?  Your answer can include information about job duties, employment sector, mix of field/lab/office work, location, or other factors.
4. Fill out the online application form which includes a place to upload your transcript.

Stay Tuned! LET’S GEO also includes special programs devoted to learning about different sectors of geosciences employment, meeting professional geoscientists, resume and interview tips, short courses focused on career-specific topics, etc.  Watch your email for information about these other programs (you don’t have to take part in the mentoring program to take advantage of these additional opportunities).

We look forward to launching this new mentoring program and the rest of LET’S GEO and hope you will be a part of it!  Please email if you have any questions (lets-geo@uwm.edu).

-LET’S GEO team

Dr. Dyanna Czeck

Dr.  Julie Bowles

Rob Graziano

Dr. Victoria McCoy

Dr. Lindsay McHenry

Dr. Charles Paradis

lets-geo@uwm.edu