New Chemistry & Biochemistry Pilot Program on Inclusive Mentoring

Mentoring relationships are important for all student’s academic, professional and personal development. This summer, mentors and mentees in chemistry and biochemistry were presented with a new opportunity to learn how to effectively engage as partners in research. Launched by Professor Galia Debelouchina in collaboration with her research group, the Chemistry & Biochemistry Mentorship Program has two goals: 1) to improve the mentoring skills of graduate students who are assigned to train and mentor undergraduates in the research laboratory; and 2) to introduce undergraduate student mentees to effective research strategies, ethics and responsibility while creating a supportive and welcoming community for them. This new professional development program was inspired by the HHMI “Entering Mentoring” seminar yet incorporates other interactive sessions and topics that reflect the interests and needs of the students in the Department. This includes workshops for graduate student mentors on defining project goals and expectations, communicating effectively, evaluating progress, establishing a mentoring philosophy, and discussing issues related to diversity and overcoming mentoring challenges. Undergraduate mentees are provided additional programing: a workshop on how to read scientific literature, a career panel with faculty and industry participants, and an exciting lightning talk session. In its first offering, the Chemistry & Biochemistry Mentorship Program had 24 participants (12 graduate student mentors and 12 undergraduate student mentees) from 7 different research groups. The Debelouchina research group hopes to expand the program next year and to maybe also develop a similar workshop targeted for postdoctoral research fellows. Credit goes to Raymond Berkeley, Bryce Ackermann, Nesreen Elathram, Lannah Abasi (graduate) and Evan Clark (undergraduate) for developing the topics and content, and for facilitating the sessions.