Peerside

Sustained Program for Career Networking and Mentorship in Ocean STEAM

Mission

Peerside’s mission is to broaden access[1] and ongoing involvement with Earth’s ocean environment through an innovative program that increases and sustains social, educational, technical, and professional support and building community for ocean Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).

Vision

There is a growing awareness that a larger workforce is needed to meet the challenges of pressing ocean issues and realize the potential of the Ocean Economy. Peerside will develop structural support and new approaches to join with communities and break past traditional barriers of access to build a broad ocean community of students, mentors, and professionals. We bring the intentional application of technologies, communication strategies, and mentoring coupled with a suite of at-sea and on-shore experiences to build the ocean STEAM community.

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[1] Peerside seeks to increase participation by students who are military veterans, Pell Grant recipients, first generation college students, nontraditional students, “2+2” transfer students from the Florida College System, students from low-income families, or students with unique abilities. Peerside does not discriminate based upon race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation nor does it promote differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.

Peerside’s goals are to:

• Transform the social and technical processes by which people access the ocean and participate in ocean research and the Ocean Economy.
• Increase ocean STEAM participation by people across broad backgrounds and experiences.
• Build a co-operative support network to promote a sense of belonging within the ocean STEAM enterprise.

Approaches

• Provide persistent and recurrent programming from year-to-year, with three-year cycle updates responsive to community and program progress; 
• Create a cohort-based development program linking early career persons and mentors, with attention to connections with community;
• Utilize mission-dedicated vessels to develop, establish, and implement technical and social work practices that broaden access and equity for ocean science fieldwork on ship and shore;
• Provide students with experiences working in ocean science, engineering, and maritime trades both at sea and on shore, to stimulate a broader professional blue workforce;
• Network industry, government, and community organizations to develop career paths, novel projects, and multi-faceted understandings of ocean research, and address pressing ocean issues;
• Foundational aspects of the program will be available to the ocean science community as a research-informed blueprint. It will include both successes and failures as we develop new ways to achieve our goals.

The program is open to current community college, undergraduate, and graduate students, recent graduates and early career professionals.

Expressions of Interest timeline for 2026 will soon be announced.

Selection of Participants

Participants (or mentees) range from undergraduate students (including recent graduates) to graduate students and early career post-doctoral associates. Peerside has two modes of selecting these participants:

1) Organizational Mentors: Each year, an engagement letter is distributed widely seeking Expressions of Interest to participate in the Peerside program. Provided organizations meet the basic requirements of participation[1] and are committed to the mission of Peerside, these organizations are entered into the logistical phase of participation. Organizational mentors are responsible for selecting their student participants and must attest that they are not discriminatory[2] in their mentee selection process.

2) Individual participants: Prospective mentees may submit a statement of interest without an organization directly to Peerside and the program works to match these students with an organization and mentor.

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[1] An external Advisory Group assesses each organization and makes a final recommendation to the FIO Director. As of 2025, no organization has been rejected from participation in the program though some organizations are queued for future mission-years due to logistical reasons such as scheduling, region of activity or expedition-matching among disciplinary focus.

[2] Organizations may have identity-based missions, but they may not select participants or mentees based upon race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Contact Peerside’s Program Manager for inquiries.

Interested in staying in the loop on Peerside programmatic activities and opportunites? Sign up for our Peerside Mailing List here

Prospective Student and Mentor Interest Forms:

Photo & Video Release Form:

USF/FIO/Peerside Photo & Video Release Form (fillable PDF)