UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #973

Mentoring Philosophy Mentoring undergraduate researchers has been the most rewarding aspect of my career. When I begin a mentorship, I prioritize learning my mentee's interests, strengths and goals, then providing scaffolding and, if necessary, educating myself to help get them achieve those goals. For example, one mentee of mine hoped to eventually earn a doctorate, and expressed great interest in studying anxiety. My lab does not typically study anxiety, but I helped her identify literature that connected her interest to my expertise, and we met frequently to discuss this literature until she generated her own research project design, which I helped her execute. Through this process, I checked in with my mentee to ensure she felt independence and ownership of her work, as well as support and guidance from me. After completing her project, this mentee was admitted to FSU's Psychology PhD program. Another mentee planned to apply to medical school and was less interested in designing her own study, but demonstrated strength in data collection. Knowing that medical programs value interpersonal skills and procedural precision, I assigned this mentee to train and supervise the others, guiding her through this role until she felt confident leading independently. Through this role, she had the opportunity to demonstrate several specific skills that medical schools ask recommendation letter writers to evaluate.

To summarize, this mentor-mentee relationship will be mutually beneficial. I do not treat mentees as employees hired to complete my project, but as developing people to whom I owe guidance and support.