The Earth Science Woman’s Network (ESWN) was established in 2002 at a dinner meeting attended by six women. Today the organization has more than 2,000 members worldwide.
The Earth Science Women’s Network has now become a nonprofit organization that will allow the group to expand its mission to increase the number of women in earth science disciplines and to enhance the career opportunities for women who are already in the field.
Meredith Hastings, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown University and one of the group’s co-founders, states that “the ESWN is about making women in the Earth sciences feel supported and add to their ability to be successful and stay in science. As a nonprofit, we’ll be able to raise the money we need to maintain our network and to develop new programs. Becoming a nonprofit gives us a bit more autonomy in deciding what direction we want to go in terms of our activities.”
Dr. Hastings is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Miami, where she majored in marine science and chemistry. She earned Ph.D. in geosciences at Princeton University. Dr. Hastings has been on the Brown University faculty since 2008.