Former Deputy Director at NASA’s Earth Science Division Paula Bontempi is now the new dean of URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Photo from uri.edu
In August 2020, the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) welcomed Dr. Paula Bontempi as its new dean.
An alumna of the GSO, Bontempi has plans to revitalize the graduate school and as well as the Narragansett Bay campus, both of which she will be overseeing. Undergraduate majors in certain marine disciplines may take classes at the Narragansett Bay campus.
Prior to coming to GSO, Bontempi worked for NASA for 18 years. She served as acting deputy director at NASA’s Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
While her position at NASA was full of responsibilities, Bontempi said that working at NASA was a dream job that she had a lot of fun with. Throughout her career at NASA, Bontempi set research priorities and earth-observing satellite mission science priorities for NASA in ocean biology, was on the committee that selected the instruments for the Mars Rover and taught astronauts and astronaut training classes. Additionally, when Bontempi was promoted to Deputy Director of the Earth Science Division, Bontempi oversaw the 77 people in the earth science department who were running a $2 billion budget.
“It’s a lot of [interacting] with Congress, the White House and all of our federal, domestic and international partners,” Bontempi said. “It’s been really fun, it was a lot of travel, but I have a nine-year old son that I wanted to spend more time with as well as a husband I would like to see more than an hour a day, so it was the right time.”
A search committee as well as Raymond M. Wright, URI’s dean of engineering, reached out to Bontempi about her applying for the position.
Wright, who asked Bontempi to apply for the position, said that he thought she had a great background for positively impacting the University.
“Dr. Paula Bontempi had great experience coming from NASA which would make her an incredible dean and leader for the Graduate School of Oceanography,” Wright said. “Dean Bontempi is a great addition to the University.”
As an alumna of GSO, Bontempi said she felt that although she could run NASA fine, she used to worry if she was doing a good job or not. Ultimately, she agonized over leaving NASA when the time came.
“Working at NASA was incredible,” Bontempi said. “I was there 18 years. I was a senior person. I was able to accomplish a lot with my colleagues and it’s this building full of incredibly genius people with unbelievable ideas and, you know, you get to implement all of them and it’s just amazing.”
Bontempi’s older sister also played a part in her decision to take the position of the Dean of the GSO. Bontempi said that while she was contemplating the decision she had to make, her sister brought up how Bontempi started at NASA at a time when it was a predominantly male-dominated workplace.
Bontempi said that her sister reminded her about how when she started working at NASA, it was an exclusively white male environment and Bontempi was one of two women in the workplace. In addition, she was 25 years younger than everyone else. Despite the odds being stacked against her, Bontempi worked her way through the ranks.
Her sister prompted her to enter academia now so she could still identify with faculty, students and staff and try to affect some sort of change in diversity, equity and inclusion for GSO. Bontempi said that when her sister said this, she knew the decision she had to make.
“That is the most compelling reason on the face of the planet, because I know what it’s like,” Bontempi said. “I’ll never know what it’s like to be Black in America, but I sure as hell know what it feels like to be one of two women in a room full of a certain demographic.”
While she is only in the fourth week of her new position, one of Bontempi’s goals for GSO regards diversity and inclusion in STEM at URI. At NASA, Bontempi was able to see significant changes in the cultural and ethnic demographics broadening and as she enters into her role as dean of GSO, she hopes to develop the same.
“How do we evolve the demographics that we have and create the right environment for these different types of people to be successful and that’s something I’m interested in talking about,” Bontempi said.
Additionally, Bontempi hopes to have the research being done at GSO stimulate the blue economy.
“That means taking that fundamental research funding and starting to package it in a way where it can be used by managers, decision makers, policy makers,” Bontempi said.