Mentoring Philosophy I have been blessed with mentors in my career who have been instrumental in my academic and personal growth. As a mentor, I try to pay this kindness forward.

I consider the mentor-mentee venture successful if the mentee can look back and identify personal and professional growth from the start to the end of the project. Challenges and failure are part of growth. I stive to support my mentees as they work through these obstacles, offering a safe environment to try, fail, and learn. While I value the acquisition of technical skills like learning new software, I place higher value on learning “soft skills” like time management, goal setting, and communication.

As a mentor, I am not a taskmaster handing projects down the chain. Instead, I help provide the environment and tools for the mentee to become a fellow researcher. This creates a two-way dynamic where both parties grow as they cooperate toward a shared goal. While I share my experience with my mentees, I learn from their perspective and experience. This requires and engenders mutual respect.

Because each mentee is different, I treat my mentees as individuals who have different needs for support as they grow into a researcher themselves. I welcome mentee feedback on how to create a mentoring relationship that best meets their needs. I seek to be a peer mentor by practicing the same traits I find admirable in my own mentors: clear communication, empathy, flexibility, forgiveness, honesty, kindness, self-reflection, and understanding.