Women careers fostered by the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia – LBA

In 1998 The Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia - LBA was launched with an international field campaign called TRMM/LBA. In its more than 20 years of activities, it has involved about 200 research projects involving about 280 institutions, worldwide. Graduate students involved in the program produced more than 200 MS thesis and 300 PhD dissertations in all fields related to the surface, vegetation, atmosphere interactions. LBA is no doubt a milestone in research on the Amazon Basin environment and on the building up of a research community in the region strengthening and in some cases starting educational and research programs in local institutions. I was the coordinator of several field campaigns in the Amazon throughout the first decade of LBA. Main objectives addressed issues on convection, aerosol impact on clouds, role of deforestation, rainfall features, among other topics. Teams of students participated of the field campaigns and then went on to work in their graduate studies contributing to the overall statistics of the Training and Education Program of LBA. Many of these students are today leading scientists in their fields, in Brazil and abroad. Several of them are women, very successful and competitive in their fields. I will describe here what lead to such an incredible success story for science, for tropical meteorology, for the building up of a research community and for the blossoming of so many careers particularly of women scientists. I find that using a few examples would be the best way. So, I will tell you the story of a few women that started as students or pos-docs during the early LBA and are today role models for a new generation of women students in the field of tropical meteorology. The main conclusion is that the special combination of an equal opportunity program in a very challenging area with bright and competitive students can make a difference regarding career development to women involved. The tropics have still many scientific unraveled mysteries regarding the coupling of the several environmental components from surface to atmosphere. It is a great area for developing careers.