Mentorship and Student Support
I have worked as a mentor to students at all levels for the last decade. I still meet with undergraduate and graduate students across the country as part of their support networks for various needs.
As of 2023, I am working with a large pool of graduate students on research, and as a mentor encouraging them through their programs. I also work with a large variety of undergraduate students as they work towards internships, graduate school, or industry jobs. For students at all stages, I have supervised honors projects, worked as a collaborator on research, done Zoom Interviews related to grad school, helped them apply to conferences, and written letters of recommendation for scholarship programs, internships, graduate school applications, and research workshops.
If you have any questions, or are looking for any advice, please feel free to email me.
Resources for Students
Q&A about Grad School
Over summer 2022, the Summer@ICERM TA’s assembled a document to answer some of the more common questions about grad school. The document can be found here.
GradSchoolQandA.pdfGrad School Interviews
Once you have been accepted to a program, here are a few questions to ask the current graduate students about the program as you decide if it would be a good fit for you (list assembled by K. Elder).
Are you told to avoid certain faculty or staff?
Is it easy to change advisors or research projects?
How well does the department handle accommodations?
Are qualifying exams treated as a threat (ie, you’ll be kicked out if you don’t pass)?
Is it clear who to report Title IX issues to?
What about problems with a faculty member?
Or problems with your advisor?
Or problems with another grad student, especially one in your research group?
How difficult are classes in terms of workload and grading?
Are mental health resources promoted and made available?
Are mental health concerns discussed openly within the department, or is it a taboo subject?
If your class does not have a TA assigned to it, do you get graded work returned in a timely manner?
Requesting a Letter of Recommendation
When requesting a letter of recommendation for grad school/a scholarship/an internship/etc., you want to give your letter writer as much information as possible to make the process easier. Consider the list found here as a starting point for this process.
Research Workshops/Grad School/Job Applications
I've gone through a variety of application processes in the last 5 years, including a job application cycle which led to multiple offers and offer negotiations. If you would like help getting started on an application, or would like to see examples of successful applications, feel free to contact me.
Resources for Mentors
Writing a Letter of Recommendation
One common area in academia where gender bias is a still a problem is letters of recommendation. And by bias, I do mean that in many cases, the difference is entirely unintentional. But it still happens.
Studies have been conducted on this topic for years, and continue to show that the problem is not going away. This problem exists independent of the gender of letter writer. Additionally, women tend to use softer language when writing their own bios and cover letters than men do. Ex: the difference between “I received my degree,” or “I earned my degree.”
How can you help? The handout below from the University of Arizona provides a quick checklist of things to watch out for when writing letters for non-male students. It can also be useful for writing your own profile/cover letter/etc., or to send to your letter writers as a gentle reminder to combat the biased language that can impact your chances of getting that fellowship or job.
Consider using the document provided here as a starting point.
avoiding_gender_bias_in_letter_of_reference_writing.pdf