Diversity In Action

NOAA Corps works to boost diversity

The agency seeks techies with an engineering, math or science background to operate NOAA’s fleet of ships and aircraft. A quarter of the Corps is women

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps is a group of about 300 officers whose primary mission is to operate NOAA’s fleet of eighteen vessels and fourteen aircraft. “NOAA Corps officers provide the technical and operational expertise, leadership and management skills, and breadth of experience for researching the oceans and atmosphere in support of NOAA’s mission,” says Lt Nicole Manning, chief officer of the NOAA Corps recruiting branch.

NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Manning explains. “The NOAA Corps is similar to the military in that we are a uniformed service, but we do not bear arms.”

Manning says the NOAA Corps looks for individuals with a technical background. “We recruit people with engineering, math or science experience.”

Officers rotate between sea and land assignments throughout their careers. The first assignment is thirty months at sea, followed by a three-year land assignment. “We’re not always on a ship, even during a sea assignment,” Manning says. Officers can expect to sail an average of 240 days a year during their sea tours.

Many NOAA Corps employees come to the service right out of college, but the Corps also hires people who have been in the workforce for a few years.

Applicants for commissions in the NOAA Corps must be U.S. citizens with at least a bachelors degree in science, math or engineering. They must meet specific academic requirements and pass a physical examination. Candidates are commissioned as ensigns; after successful completion of a basic officer training class, they report to a NOAA ship for their first assignments. There is a one-year obligatory service period for new officers.

The NOAA Corps includes officers with many different backgrounds, and has a long tradition of female leaders, Manning says, like Rear Admiral Evelyn J. Fields who retired as director of the NOAA Corps in 2003. In fact, according to Manning, 25 percent of current NOAA Corps officers are women. Even so, the NOAA Corps is working hard to improve its overall diversity.

“We advertise in diversity and minority engineering magazines, and work with minority engineering programs,” says Manning. “And NOAA operates cooperative science centers at minority-serving institutions.”

However, she adds, “In my experience, students who graduate with strong backgrounds in the sciences are heavily recruited by industry, so it’s hard for us to compete. That’s why we’re hoping that Congress will pass legislation to set up some new tuition-reimbursement programs that will allow us to be more competitive.”

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