Info for Mentors

Learn more about mentoring at our Zoom Mentor Orientation Meeting on Tuesday, September 22 at 1 pm ET. Email chloe@biobuilder.org for details.

What's Involved

The BioBuilderClub invites teams of high school students to design a solution for a real-world problem of their choice using synthetic biology. Teams are typically integrated into a high school course or run as an after-school club. All teams develop a biodesign. If teams have time and access to lab resources, they may build and test their design.
Mentors commit to 10 hours of virtual guidance between November and March for a team of 1-10 high school students. Teams join from across the United States and around the world, so all mentorship is expected to be virtual.
Guidance may include video meetings, email correspondence, asynchronous collaboration using Google Docs, and reviewing Final Assembly posters and talks. Teams present short talks and posters at our Final Assemblies, held in March.
The Mentor Volunteer form asks about your areas of expertise as well as your experience working in education or with high school students so that we can find a team that is a good fit for your background.

Mentors are typically grad students, instructors/lecturers/professors, postdocs, or industry scientists with experience in synthetic biology, bioengineering, biomanufacturing, or related fields.
Not all teams plan to build and test their biodesigns, so we welcome mentors who would prefer to work with a design-only team. Some teams also choose more computational projects.
For mentors who are comfortable advising on experimental design, most high school teams choose to work with E. coli or S. cerevisiae as their model organism if they plan to build/test due to constraints of working in a high school laboratory. We take this into account when pairing mentors and teams, as our design teams tend to be more creative in their choice of model organisms.
Mentors don't need to have teaching experience. While some teams new to biodesign may need more guidance, many teams are looking for a subject matter expert on their topic to consult on technical questions. We also take the type of mentorship a team needs into account when pairing mentors and teams.
Bioengineer mentors also serve as an important resource for teams by providing a real-world glimpse into the possibilities of STEM education and careers.

Mentors have access to the same resources as registered teams: the BioBuilderClub Handbook, the BioBuilder online textbook, recorded webinars, our BioBuilderClub subreddit, and the BioBuilder Discord server (where mentors can consult other mentors and teacher team leads).
There will be a mentor onboarding meeting in September to orient mentors to issues that frequently come up and where to seek help and additional resources.
The resources for registered teams include detailed instructions for project deliverables, due dates, and a suggested timeline for project and presentation development.

Download Mentor Recruitment Flyer

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