(NOTE: MENTORING IS MY SECOND FAVORITE THING ABOUT DOING SCIENCE, DOING SCIENCE ITSELF BEING THE FIRST)
My primary objective in every mentoring relationship is to aid in the trainees’ scientific growth within the context of their desired career objectives. In the first few interactions with a trainee, I typically determine their broad career objectives and then break them down into practical milestones (e.g. publishing a paper, presenting at a conference, organizing a meeting, networking with a professional). Given that each trainee starts with different capabilities, I take a three-pronged approach in my mentoring strategy, allocating resources proportional to their current proficiency in each facet of their training.
Technical training: In the early phase of mentoring, I place emphasis on developing strong technical skills that will allow the trainee to execute their research project. The specific techniques are determined by the trainee’s choice of research projects within the scope of my laboratory’s broad research goals. The overarching goal of this facet is to ensure that the trainee has a reliable and rigorous skill set on which they can build their expertise as a scientist. As they progress in their technical training, I encourage trainees to independently design and execute experiments, and analyze their own data. For longer term trainees such as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, this technical success serves as a launchpad to explore new research avenues.
‘Soft’ skills training: In addition to technical skills at the research bench, I coach trainees in their abilities to communicate their science. In the initial phase, this coaching manifests as writing monthly summaries of their research progress and presenting their data-driven hypothesis in intra-laboratory meetings. This facet also imparts trainees with the ability to critically evaluate their own data, leading them to design their effective experimental strategies strategy and rigorous and reproducible data. These preparatory steps will culminate in their being able to write manuscripts describing their research, grant proposals, and give oral presentations at conferences.
Career support: As a mentor, in addition to the development of a trainee as a competent scientist, I’m also invested in the success of their long-term careers. In support of this, I have quarterly meetings with trainees to evaluate if their progress is consistent with an optimal timeline for success. More generally, I continue to meet annually with past trainees as they develop independence and evolve into my peers. These frequent assessments inform the ways in which I can be most impactful as a mentor; this includes nominating my mentees for scholarships, workshops, seminars and increasing the visibility of their work at various forums to which I am invited.
Mentoring experience: Both as a senior graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, I mentored several junior researchers (details in CV) which me with unique opportunities to impact their scientific enthusiasm and training. I have been the fortunate recipient of positive feedback from my former mentees, who describe me as someone who has pushed their understanding and performance while being very encouraging and approachable. I continue to remain in contact with several former mentees’, some of whom I now proudly can call scientific colleagues.
A detailed list of my current and past mentees can be found on my CV.