I benefitted from phenomenal mentorship throughout my graduate career. I strive to pay this forward by serving as a mentor and helping trainees secure diverse mentorship in and out of the laboratory. I mentored multiple undergraduate and early-career graduate students in the Alspaugh laboratory, using my thesis research as a tool to teach the scientific method and experimental techniques. Before I begin working with students, I craft detailed written summaries for potential projects. I meet with each student individually to review these projects, answer any questions, and discuss their specific scientific interests so that I can tailor the projects to their goals. Because I have enjoyed this mentoring role, I plan to pursue a career in which I can continue to mentor science trainees in this capacity.
In my role as an OBGE Administrative Fellow, I developed a new peer mentoring network for SoM PhD students. Peer mentoring training sessions, which I participated in, used the Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP) curriculum, which was designed to introduce bioscience graduate students to the interpersonal and psychological foundations of leading teams and managing people1. Through this network, 11 established PhD students served as peer mentors for ~100 first-year PhD students to help them acclimate to graduate school, navigate graduate school logistics, and build a professional network of colleagues with the goal of improving overall graduate student wellness2. Biweekly through BIOTRAIN 701 Gateway Groups, each peer mentor met in-person with ~10 mentees to discuss and practice skills introduced in the previous week’s seminar session. Beyond BIOTRAIN 701, peer mentors met with mentees individually, upon request, and continued to do so throughout the Spring 2022 semester. This network was also supporting the professional development of our peer mentors, as they were gaining unique mentoring experience that will help them transition into leadership roles after graduate school. Our peer mentors also gained unique teaching experience by engaging in team-teaching. I crafted a BIOTRAIN 701 class session for all 11 peer mentors to collaborate and lead a seminar about mentorship in graduate school. This experience was particularly beneficial for our mentors because team-teaching is commonly employed in many professions, including academia. Feedback about this network from both mentors and mentees was essential to reach the ultimate goal of extending this important resource to all SoM PhD students. This program is now in its second year within the SOM.
1https://sites.wustl.edu/lmap/about/
2Hish AJ, Nagy GA, Fang CM, Kelley L, Nicchitta CV., Dzirasa K, Rosenthal MZ. 2019. Applying the stress process model to stress–burnout and stress–depression relationships in biomedical doctoral students: A cross-sectional pilot study. CBE Life Sci Educ 18:ar51.