TOS Mentoring Award

Outstanding and inspiring mentorship of professional colleagues, early career professionals, and/or students evidenced by impactful contributions as a role model for the next generation.

These contributions may be demonstrated by:

• Outstanding leadership in promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity in ocean science
• Outstanding leadership in promoting capacity and growth of oceanography in less resourceful regions

NOMINEES

• Active membership in The Oceanography Society is not required at the time of nomination.
• TOS officers and members of the Council are not eligible for selection during their terms of service.
• Nomination is for an individual from any country. Nominations are sought of individuals that have not received similar awards in the past three years (from TOS or other societies).
• If selected, nominees must certify their compliance with all TOS policies, specifically the Professional Integrity, Ethics, and Conduct and Guidelines on Implementation.

NOMINATORS

• Anyone can serve as a nominator for another individual. Potential candidates should feel encouraged to ask a potential nominator to advance a nomination. We also encourage self-nominations. Self-nominations should also include a nomination letter.
• Nominators are not required to be TOS members.
• One co-nominator is allowed.
• Nominators must certify their compliance with all TOS policies, specifically the Professional Integrity, Ethics, and Conduct and Guidelines on Implementation and acknowledge the TOS Values Statement on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

SUPPORTERS

• Supporters are not required to be TOS members.

• Nominations must include the elements described in the Nomination Package section below.
• Nominations must be submitted using the online system. You will be prompted to login. If you don’t have an existing account, please create a New Users account in order to complete your submission.
• Submissions are due by October 31, 2025.

Nominations are must include the following elements:

1. CITATION

• Please suggest text that may be edited to appear in news releases and on a certificate presented to the recipient. The text of this citation should be 200 characters or less.

2. PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

• Nominee’s curriculum vita or resume (five pages maximum) must be up to date and include the nominee’s name, mailing and email addresses.
• A description of the nominee's outstanding contributions (two pages maximum). If in the form of a bibliography, include key publications or products and indicate when students or postdocs appear as first author. If in narrative form, please provide descriptions and include any links that may be available to reference material (website, projects, initiatives, etc.).

3. NOMINATION LETTER

• The nomination letter can be a maximum of two pages and must include the name, title, affiliation, and contact information for the nominator or co-nominators.
• The letter should succinctly describe why the nominee is suited to receive the award, highlight their accomplishments, and elaborate on any information that is not specifically addressed in the nomination materials.

4. SUPPORTING LETTERS

• At least two but not more than three individuals may provide support for the nomination. These individuals are in addition to the nominator or co-nominators. Supporting letters are capped at one page in length and must include the supporter's name, title, and contact information, relationship to the nominee, and clear justification for the qualifications of the nominee.
• A fillable PDF is available here. After completion, the form may be sent directly to the nominator for inclusion with other nomination materials.

2024 AWARD – CHARITHA BANDULA PATTIARATCHI

For extraordinary mentoring of students and early career marine scientists in developed and undeveloped nations

The Oceanography Society (TOS) congratulates Prof. Charitha Bandula Pattiaratchi for being selected as the most recent recipient of The Oceanography Society’s Mentoring Award. The citation on Dr. Pattiaratchi’s certificate recognizes him for an enviable record of mentoring students and young scientists. Over the course of his career, he has developed a world-renowned research and training program for early career researchers and graduate students in coastal oceanography at The University of Western Australia. To date, he has supervised more than 300 people including direct supervision of 277 dissertations.

Pattiaratchi is currently Professor of Coastal Oceanography, Oceans Graduate School and The UWA Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia. He leads the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Ocean Glider facility. He earned several degrees from the University College of Swansea (University of Wales): BSc (joint hons), Oceanography and Applied Mathematics, 1979; MSc (Coastal Oceanography), 1981; PhD (Coastal Oceanography), 1985; Postdoctoral Fellow, Oceanography, 1986–1988. He has been at the University of Western Australia since 1988.

2021 AWARD – DR. CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON

For her tireless and remarkably successful efforts to engage, mentor, and imbue underrepresented students with her passion for science while also making outstanding contributions to research

If you have any questions about the the TOS Mentoring Award, please contact Jenny Ramarui, TOS Executive Director.