Proposal for an Astronomy Mentoring
Program
Students at nation's top liberal arts colleges are highly
motivated,
smart and enthusiastic,
and yet they often lack advice on professional
development
issues. This is primarily because their advisors, the faculty
at these colleges tend to be heavily involved in teaching. The
faculty are
often far removed from the latest developments in the field, the job market,
and the professional society norms.
When I left
Grinnell College, I found I had some good skills but I entered
graduate school unprepared for life as a professional scientist.
In particular, I di d not know the culture of scientists, the steps necessary
to getting a postdoc, a faculty position, etc. I did not know the
relative
significance of conferences, talks, seminars, or the relative importance
of
classes, research, and teaching duties.
In a
recent visit to the Grinnell, I realized, in talking to some biology
and physics
majors, that little has changed in the decade since I
graduated.
I spent hours just talking to students about graduate school
and postdoc life. I think alumni, in general, but postdocs in particular
can
fill this void that exists at many places.
With that thought, I would like to establish an informal network to
match interested,
but serious juniors and seniors to astronomy postdocs.
Another central reason for this idea is a personal goal of working towards
gender and minority equity in our field. The pool of science students
in liberal arts colleges generally tends to be more diverse and therefore
is our best hope for achieving parity in gender and race.
BASIC GUIDELINES
- The mentoring will be one on one for the most part. I hope the
mentors interact with the faculty advisors and vice-versa, and I hope the
students begin to build up their network.
- Students will be recommended by faculty members or other students.
The goal will be to create an efficient system in which both the mentors
and the students get something out of it.
Advantages for mentors
- The mentors should be able to develop mentoring
skills - a useful addition for their toolkit as they progress towards faculty
and other permanent jobs.
- Learn how to communicate effectively over
email. It is surprising how ineffective communications can be inspite of
today's technology - this skill ought to be useful for research and networking
collaborations.
- Build an even wider network of professional
contacts
- Perhaps find a student interested in doing
some highly directed research project. More on this below.
- Perhaps the most obvious - Emotional satisfaction
from helping out students.
Advantages for mentees
- Have someone currently in the field as an
alternate advisor -- Hopefully, the student will learn about the current
professional environment, job market, etc.
- Begin to build a professional identity and
a network
- Become involved in research project(s) that
might otherwise not be available at their institution. See below.
Research Possibilities
One of my realizations as a postdoc is that I have too many projects
and not enough time to do them all. I constantly feel under pressure
to get more done professionally. Over the summer, I had a fantastic
experience mentoring a student. Though the mentoring was intensive
and took up a lot of time, at the end, the multiplexing will lead to
two papers and a host of other positive returns. So I began thinking
that if a) you had highly motivated students who are self-starters, b)
you had a well focussed problem that could be done in a short amount
of time, and c) advising could be done remotely -- then this mentoring
program could naturally lend itself to a research collaboration. Now
granted, that more than half the time this might not work. But it
could be worth a shot - depending on the mentor and the mentee.
Tasks:
1. Create a web page with this information -- Done
2. List resources - Started
3. Create a secure database of names for mentors and mentees - Started
4. Develop a list of steps necessary for the research part of this
proposal