How to be a great mentor
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Be organized
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Training
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Know the literature
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Calendars/schedules
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Frequency of meetings
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Communication
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Lab notebook
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Presentations
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Publications
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Fellowships
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Data analysis
1. Be organized: Probably the most important recommendation is that you are organized, and that you help your student be organized too.
Give your mentee a lab notebook and tell them that this is their diary, where every day they have to write exactly what they did, how they did it, and then follow up with results when they get them.
There should be dates. There should be print out of graphs, PCRs, electrophoresis, or whatever the result is.
The idea is for someone else to read the lab notebook protocols and procedures and be able to reproduce exactly the student’s results.
a. Plan three big tasks per day, no more. Write these tasks in the lab notebook. Three is a good number to not get overwhelmed, and this in turn leads to getting things done. Writing them down ensures that you don’t forget, and it also helps crystalize ideas.
b. Check the student's notebook regularly. At the beginning, you’ll want to check it twice per week, later once per week, and when they get the idea, just check it monthly or on a need basis.
- The lab notebook is property of the lab, so when the student leaves, the lab notebook stays. Make sure you tell them that.
c. Set up a collaborative project folder on the cloud. In today’s digitalized world, it's very convenient to have projects online and work on the cloud with collaborators and mentees. There are several options, like google Drive, BOX, Microsoft One Drive, or others. Check what the university offers for free.
- Create a shared folder and inside it, create sub-folders for experiments, protocols, literature, etc.
- Show students how to make spreadsheets or documents, and once they get it, they can do it themselves. These documents have a tab for the overall plan of the experiment, formulas and calculations, a tab for experiment measurements, a tab for results, a tab for notes on conclusions of the experiment or things that went wrong.
- The most important thing about creating these spreadsheets or documents is naming them so they are organized and easily found. I start the name with the date as YEAR/MONTH/DATE. So, if I created a spreadsheet today to run a PCR on Alaska ice brines, I would name it: 200108_PCR_AlaskaIceBrines.xlx (note that I didn’t write 2020, but 20 instead, to shorten it).
- Each spreadsheet or document should be DETAILED. Write the protocol, notes, observations, results, everything in detail because in six months you won't remember anything.
- If your work involves taking pictures of experiments, make sure they are uploaded to the online project folder. Anything that is created should be on that folder.
and responsibility.
2. Training: The best way to train a student is to lead by example.
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a. Before the start date, walk the student through the project, either with a power point that you've prepared before hand, or drawing.
- Explain the big picture of the project, followed by what are the experiments that the student will be doing, and why are you doing them / what question or hypothesis are you trying to answer. It’s very important to have visuals, because most people learn visually.
- Write down in bullet points the questions / hypotheses of the project, and also the experiments to conduct.
- If you’ve done this in paper, let them have the paper. If you’ve done it in power point, send it to them. If you’ve drawn in the white board, tell them to take a picture of the board with their phone.
b. The first day, walk with the student through the lab, the rooms that they will need to be familiar with, and introduce them to the people that they will be seeing (e.g. lab manager, technician, other students and postdocs, etc).
c. Online training: is there any online safety course or certificate that they need to fill out before starting in the lab? All research universities usually have some training.
d. Make sure that you give them copies of the protocols to the experiments they'll be doing. Again, media recipes and protocols should all be in your online folder, and you can print them out. Make sure that those protocols are extremely detailed. A non-scientist should be able to read the protocol and understand it.
- Have them read the protocol the day before you start to train them, so they know what’s going on.
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e. Hands-on training. Because we all have our ways of doing things, even if the student has already done the procedure in another lab, still show them how to do it. You can follow these steps:
- First, you do the experiment while the student watches (they shadow you).
- Have them take notes on their lab notebook of this shadowing experience so they know how to do this experiment next time.
- If you're in a Life Sciences lab, Sterilization is one of the first things to teach the student: how to keep a clean bench and avoid contamination.
- Second, you have the student do the experiment while you narrate what has to be done.
- For example, if you are in a biology lab, tell them how to open bottles, how to sterilize, how to pipette, how to label tubes; you name it. Don’t treat them like they are stupid, but instead, like if you were talking to a very intelligent economist, or lawyer, or someone who is seeing this procedure done for the first time.
- Third, you have the student do the experiment while you watch and don't say anything.
- Don’t micromanage the experiment. Correct them if they are doing something wrong.
- Fourth, the student is ready to do the experiment on their own without supervision.
- Let them know that you are there to answer any questions. The student should not be afraid to ask questions. There is no such thing as a "stupid question". People that ask are people that are engaged and make fewer mistakessure is good for motivating students and giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility.
3. Know the literature: This is accomplished by reading publications related to the work you're doing, even if those studies are from a long time ago. It helps the student know the field of study, be engaged, and learn to think critically.
- To get the student started, the first articles they need to read are the ones you provide.
- One way to find additional relevant articles is to see the references of the articles you're currently reading (as in, who else is your article citing), and also to see who has cited the article you're reading (what newer studies are citing the article you're reading)
4. Calendars/schedules: Set up an online calendar (Outlook, Google, or something else) and use to to set up a 'Schedules' calendar as well as a 'Work' calendar:
a. Work calendar: Where the student signs up what days and times they are going to do what task.
- For example: “Monday 1-3 pm PCR of Alaska sea ice brines”. This way you can see what has been done each week.
b. Schedules calendar: Where the student writes down all of their class schedules, out of town times, doctors appointments, extracurricular activities, etc.
- This helps you know how much time you're reasonably going to get out of your student..
- You can also write down your own schedule so that the student knows when they will be able to see you or not get in touch with you.
- In this calendar, make sure they know about lab meeting (have them attend lab meeting), and also schedule your regular meetings with the student.
5. Frequency of one-on-one meetings: It’s good to meet regularly with your student to check on results, issues, and especially at the beginning of their stay, to check for how well are they understanding what they are doing.
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a. The first two weeks you can meet daily, at the end of the day. Later it can be a couple of times a week, or just once a week.
b. In these meetings, the first thing to ask is how are they doing.
- You want to hear if they are liking it, if they are confused, if they are stressed…how are they?
- Then, ask about the experiments; how are those going (were there any questions on how to do something or on why they were doing that?) and if there are results.
c. You need to decide if you want to be available 24h a day, or if you want to limit your availability.
- Can they come to you / email you /text you with every question and concern? Or should all of those be saved for when you do your regularly-scheduled meeting?
- For the first two weeks you may want to make yourself very available.
- Over time, limit your time so that you can advance your own work.
- Make sure all of this is verbalized to the student.
6. Data analysis: You need to interpret the results of your work as you complete tasks. This is one way of doing it and teaching your student:
- At the beginning, walk through the results together; interpret them together.
- As the student gains independence, let them analyze the results on their own and tell you what they think.
- In this process, let the student also plan future experiments / think critically about what the next steps are.
- How to keep data analysis organized: Make a power point (or another kind of running document) for the experiments, the results obtained, and what they mean.
1 slide for the title of the experiment and date,
1 slide for the overall goal of doing that experiment,
1 slide with the results and conclusions.
7. Communication is key: Make sure you have an open relationship where the student tells you when they are going to be in lab doing experiments, when they are unavailable, what are their goals and expectations, etc. You don’t want surprises (and neither do they).
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a. Written agreement: It's important to set expectations of how many hours the student will work, what are the project goals, frequency of the meetings, mentoring style (more hands-on or more hands-off), etc. Putting it all in writing foreces both of you to sit down and talk about it thoroughly. Fill it out together, and then you both sign it.
8. Lab report: At the end of the research experience have the student write a report.
- This is where they write an Introduction to the project, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. There should also be References.
- To set them up for success, provide the student with examples of what good reports look like.
- Grade the report and give them constructive comments for improvement.
9. Presentation: the best way of knowing if someone has a good understanding of a project and is engaged in it is to make them present the project and results of their work in front of a crowd. This can be lab meeting or a gathering of other people. Have them make a power point and present their research experience.
10. Publication: Some students are so engaged and do so much work that they earn authorship in a publication. While for short-stay students it is expected that this will not be the case, you can always bring up the subject at the beginning, during the written agreement. You can say that if they are interested and do good work, they could earn authorship in the publication. If they are indeed interested and they have earned it by the time the position ends, you can offer them to be remotely involved. This is when they are in another lab or project, but still helping you craft the manuscript with writing results, methods, introduction, etc.
11. Fellowships, grants and scientific meetings: Part of the training is trying to get fellowships and present the science in scientific gatherings.
- If there are any local or on-campus meetings that coincide with the time that the student is in the project, encourage them to participate.
- The same for potential fellowships and grants. It’s good for students to get exposure to presenting their research, and any award or such exposure is good for motivating students and giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility.