Retaining Early Career Underrepresented Scientists: The Stories of Women in Fluids Initiative

A well-told story has the power to enliven a topic and inspire an audience to action, possibly transforming lives. The Stories of Women in Fluids Initiative aims to use the power of storytelling to recruit and retain femme-identifying individuals, particularly those of color, to create a more demographically representative STEM community. This presentation focuses on our anthology targeted towards early-career scientists. At the heart of our book lies the powerful theme of 'Persevere, Survive, and Thrive,' which captures the remarkable career trajectories of the women featured in its pages. The book illuminates the complex social, economic, and cultural factors shaping women's engineering experiences. The stories in this anthology, volunteered by female scientists and engineers, celebrate women's strength and resilience while acknowledging their challenges. Our anthology showcases the breadth of career stages and experience from women in the field, with the goal of leading by example and encouraging the interest of female-identifying researchers to remain in fluid dynamics and, more broadly, STEM. This talk will provide insight to the process of crafting these personal narratives as well as a preview of our publication timeline and longer term plans post publication.