Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering: Designing New Processes for Sustainable Fuels, Demystifying PhD and Postdoc Pathways, Coordinating Academic Assessment, Bridging Industry & Academia, Mentoring Students
What defines a good #mentor? I often hear from #PhD students and #postdocs who are disappointed with their #advisor. They feel like their advisor doesn’t care about their success. Don’t get me wrong: there are some people who should not mentor students. (Topic for another day … it’s too depressing for today.) I don’t think there’s one definition of an ideal advisor, because each person needs something different in a mentor. 👀 Some students feel like they need constant guidance. They don’t know how to be independent and need help to spread their wings. ☄️ Other students are independent from the start and forget that they have an advisor. They need help understanding that research is made better when we have supportive critics and help from someone deeply knowledgeable in the field. There’s also not one list of ALL the things an advisor does (should do?) for her students. I think our main roles are: 👩🏻🎓 Keep a student on track to meet their goals. Help them identify milestones, hold them accountable for deliverables, assist in getting over speedbumps. 🦠 Facilitate access to resources. Whether it’s lab supplies, equipment time, data access, professional development, I don’t want my students worrying about resources. 🏁 Help them grow as independent scholars. I try to give my students a lot of freedom, but with that the advisor needs to have patience and believe in their students’ abilities. 👩🏻🏫 Provide honest feedback and a supportive environment in which to receive that feedback. I’m not doing my students any favors by telling them a manuscript is fine and then rewriting it behind their backs. Sometimes even the most enthusiastic advisor struggles to do these things. But let’s assume that the advisor is well-intentioned and needs a little help to help. When an early career scientist tells me their mentor isn’t what they expected, it’s often a lack of communication and of setting expectations that leads to this disappointment. 💁🏻♀️ So I ask them: what’s your role in creating your mentoring relationship? 🤦🏻♀️ Usually, they give me a stunned look: You mean I should DO something? Yes. You should be proactive. Not all mentors are tuned into your expectations but are actually quite willing to help once they’ve been explicitly told what you need. How do you build a good relationship with your mentor? 💬 Talk to each other. Honestly. Openly. ⭐️ Be clear about what you each hope to achieve both with this relationship and your career. Ask how the advisor feels that they can help you. This is two-way conversation: it isn’t about demanding things. 🙌 Ask your advisor what’s important to them. When we work towards a common goal, we’re more motivated to succeed than when we feel like adversaries. ⏰ Have frequent conversations. You wouldn’t call someone you just met your best friend; why would you expect to have a strong mentoring relationship immediately?