How ASLO develops their members through mentoring and community

ASLO’s Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX) is an NSF-funded initiative (award #1831075, 2019-2021). This program collaborates with 7 participating institutions located in Canada, Australia, Israel, and Sweden LOREX Mentoring Platform was created to help provide training in internal research for graduate students.

The ASLO LOREX program aims to foster international research collaborations through professional development training open to the all ASLO student members. Professional development training occurs through webinars, web resources, and workshops. The program allows up to 30 graduate students (US citizens or permanent residents) each year to participate in this paid international research exchange. Currently, there are two cohorts of participants involved in the LOREX program. Professional development training will occur through webinars, web resources, and conference workshops. The paid international research exchanges will allow up to 30 graduate students (US citizens or permanent residents) studying in a US institute.

However, the graduate student program is currently on hold due to COVID-19 and the uncertainty around global travel. They hope to keep students engaged until travel experiences resume.

This did not stop Eilea Knotts (Scientific Communications Fellow at ASLO) from wanting to support LOREX graduate students. Eilea was easily able to change the direction of the program using Qooper's tools when COVID-19 hit. 

• Groups - Eilea turned her focus to using the Groups to communicate and have discussions. She can send out immediate communications to mentees and mentors of the program. 

• Learning Path - Eilea uses the Learning Path to create multiple lesson from previous presentations given at Ocean Sciences Meetings. 

• Webinars - Eilea uses Qooper's platform to host the webinars and measure attendance. 

• Videos - Eilea can embed videos within the lessons and learning paths, as including different content models in your program helps with engagement and retention.

Eilea used Qooper platform to keep students engaged during this pandemic. Keeping students in the Qooper mentoring program app during the pandemic and excited about future opportunities will not only help ASLO overall mission, but will give the graduate students something to look forward to in this tough time.