What is the Rising Tides mentorship program?

This is a new MISS program that encourages and supports mentorship between women of color. Recipients will be awarded $10,000. This program is for women of color who are interested in mentoring another woman of color in their lab or at their institution. Mentors can be at any career stage (Undergraduate to Late-career), but must be mentoring someone in an earlier career stage (High School to Mid-career). To be eligible to apply, mentorship teams must be working on a project related to elasmobranch research or conservation. Both mentors and mentees must be MISS members. ​
What do recipients receive?
This program will include a $2,000 mentor stipend, $5,000 student stipend and $3,000 for supplies and/or conference fees for mentorship pairs to work together for one year on a research project.  

Why was this program created?
Women and people of color are less likely to receive mentorship than their white male counterparts (Milkman et. al., 2014; Morzinski et al, 2002). Having access to strong mentors, particularly mentors who share similar identities, increases retention in STEM fields (Williams et al, 2015). With few women of color in faculty, post-doc or senior positions, women of color experience a higher mentorship burden than their white male counterparts and are often not compensated for this additional expected service.
This program is sponsored by re:wild.