MENTORING BASIC SCIENCE TRAINEES Edward Krug, PhD Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs 05/04/2012.

MENTORING BASIC SCIENCE TRAINEES

Edward Krug, PhD

Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology

Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs

05/04/2012

• Why is mentoring important in the basic sciences?• What constitutes a mentoring relationship?• What tools are available to facilitate mentoring?• What are some impediments to mentoring?• Is one mentor enough?• Can “mentoring potential” be assessed in faculty hiring?

Topics

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It is easier to attain a career objective if you make use of

prior experience …

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… but experience is more than a set of instructions.

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You can understand the instructions but still not achieve your objective.

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Even worse, you may THINK you are making progress towards your goal…

Mentoring from those …

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a career step or two ahead …

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or from near-peer …

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or shared as a team…

… benefits not only the mentee, but the collective community by creating a more productive, collaborative and collegial environment.

www.aamc.org/gradcompact

Commitments of Graduate Students:• I acknowledge that I have the primary responsibility for the successful completion of my degree. • I will meet regularly with my research advisor and provide him/her with updates on the progress and

results of my activities and experiments.• I will work with my research advisor to develop a thesis/dissertation project. • I will work with my research advisor to select a thesis/dissertation committee. • I will be knowledgeable of the policies and requirements of my graduate program, graduate school, and

institution. • I will attend and participate in laboratory meetings, seminars and journal clubs that are part of my

educational program.• I will comply with all institutional policies, including academic program milestones.• I will participate in my institution’s Responsible Conduct of Research Training Program and practice those

guidelines in conducting my thesis/dissertation research.• I will be a good lab citizen. • I will maintain a detailed, organized, and accurate laboratory notebook.• I will discuss policies on work hours, sick leave and vacation with my research advisor. • I will discuss policies on authorship and attendance at professional meetings with my research advisor.• I acknowledge that it is primarily my responsibility to develop my career following the completion of my

doctoral degree.

Commitments of Research Advisors• I will be committed to the life-long mentoring of the graduate student • I will help to plan and direct the graduate student’s project • I will provide necessary financial resources, and assure no conflict of interest interferes with their training• I will help in selection of a thesis/dissertation committee and assure that it meets at least annually• I will lead by example and facilitate the training of the graduate student in complementary skills needed to

be a successful scientist• I will encourage the student to seek opportunities in teaching• I will expect the graduate student to share common laboratory responsibilities • I will not require the graduate student to perform tasks that are unrelated to his/her training program and

professional development• I will discuss authorship policies and intellectual policy issues• I will encourage the graduate student to attend scientific/professional meetings • I will be accessible to give advice and feedback on career goals• I will provide an environment that is intellectually stimulating, emotionally supportive, safe, and free of

harassment• I will be supportive, equitable, accessible, encouraging, and respectful • I will foster the graduate student’s professional confidence and encourage critical thinking, skepticism and

creativity

[additional] Commitments of Postdoctoral Appointees• I will endeavor to assume progressive responsibility and management of my research project(s) as

it matures. • I will seek regular feedback on my performance and ask for a formal evaluation at least annually.• I will actively seek opportunities outside the laboratory to develop the full set of professional skills

necessary to be successful for my chosen career. 

[additional] Commitments of Mentors• I acknowledge that the postdoctoral period is a time of advanced training intended to develop the

skills needed to promote the career of the postdoctoral appointee.• I will ensure that a mutually agreed upon set of expectations and goals are in place at the outset of

the postdoctoral training period, and I will work with the postdoctoral appointee to create an individual career development plan.

• I recognize that there are multiple career options available for a postdoctoral appointee and will provide assistance in exploring appropriate options.

www.aamc.org/postdoccompact

Chapter 1. Obtaining and Negotiating a Faculty Position Chapter 2. Understanding University Structure and Planning for Tenure Chapter 3. Laboratory Leadership in Science Chapter 4. Staffing Your Laboratory Chapter 5. Mentoring and Being Mentored Chapter 6. Time ManagementChapter 7. Project Management Chapter 8. Data Management and Laboratory Notebooks Chapter 9. Getting Funded Chapter 10. Getting Published and Increasing Your Visibility Chapter 11. Understanding Technology Transfer Chapter 12. Setting Up Collaborations Chapter 13. Teaching and Course Design

http://www.hhmi.org/resources/labmanagement/

HHMI & BWF - Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty

HHMI - Entering Mentoring Handelsman, Pfund, Miller-Lauffer, and Maidl-Pribbenow

http://www.hhmi.org/resources/labmanagement/

Session 1—Getting Started Session 2—Learning to Communicate Session 3—Goals and ExpectationsSession 4—Identifying Challenges and IssuesSession 5—Resolving Challenges and Issues Session 6—Evaluating Our Progress as MentorsSession 7—The Elements of Good MentoringSession 8—Developing a Mentoring Philosophy

Boss AdvisorCoachMentor

“Just do your job.”“These are your options.”“I can train you to do what I do.” (coach drives)“I can help you achieve your desired goal.” (mentee drives)

Variations on the mentoring theme

Type Position Expected Obtained

Tenure-track academic position 62% 37% (23% biomed)

Non-tenure-track research scientist 15% 16%

Government 6% 12%

Nonprofit research 3% 5%

Industry 11% 16%

Self-employed 1% 4%

Other 3% 10%

Postdoctoral Career Goals – “fact vs. fiction”

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/legacy/getfile/aaas/files/uploaded-files/pdf/b179bc4b-4ff4-4ab6-9956-f830c5e385b5/20100827-graph2.pdf

Evolving from mentoring silos to a mentoring community

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aspx

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1. How are graduate students' contributions to research and innovation recognized (beyond the course credit they receive)?

2. How important is authorship as part of completing a Ph.D. program?3. Who decides when to submit a paper, and what to put in it? That is, who starts the process,

and who makes the final decision? Can a grad student just submit a paper on his or her own?4. What are your criteria for listing a student's name as an author on a journal article?5. What factors are considered in determining the order in which the authors are listed?6. Do you require all authors to approve the final version of a manuscript before submission?7. What factors determine which person working on research group gives a presentation on the

research at a professional meeting? • Are the factors the same as whether and how to list someone among authors?• Do considerations such as whether the student is looking for a job play a role in these

decisions?8. Suppose a student contributes to a research project in which the results will be presented in a

report or presentation, instead of a publication. How is the student's work credited? • Does it matter if the sponsor or audience for the presentation is a potential employer of

the program's graduates?9. Credit and responsibility for research go together. One aspect of responsibility is to minimize

mistakes and errors in research. • In your area, what sort of mistakes are regarded as trivial and what sort of mistakes are

regarded as significant or serious?• What are appropriate ways of dealing with mistakes in published (or disseminated)

research results?

Assessing “mentor potential” of faculty

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John is a third year graduate student training in the laboratory of Dr. Smith. John has made important contributions to Dr. Smith’s research program, most notably by devising a new bioassay method for studying angiogenesis and resulting in a first author publication in Nature Biotechnology. However, over the last several months John has had significant doubts about his goal of becoming a faculty member at a research-intensive institution. Dr. Smith has been very supportive of John’s development in the past, but with Dr. Smith’s grant being up for renewal this year John is hesitant to seek his advice. • What are the issues and potential repercussions? • What are John’s options?

Case Study #1

D.T. is a junior faculty member who joined the faculty three years ago after completing a research fellowship. Her research mentor helped her obtain a supplemental grant on another mentor's R01 in her first year after the appointment and advised her on applying for various other mentored awards. D.T. received the supplement, which funds a large portion of her salary. About a year after getting the supplement D.T. announced to her mentor that she is not sure if she is cut out to do research and she doesn't really enjoy this aspect of academic medicine. She told the mentor that she really wants to be "an educator".

At the next meeting D.T. casually tells her mentor that she applied for a non-academic position, a policy consulting job, but did not get it. She says that she is staying at the University for now but is "keeping her options open". Based on this and other observations about the mentee's research productivity the mentor feels as if her mentoring efforts and the NIH dollars have been wasted on the mentee. She is frustrated and vows to stop wasting her time and effort.

Case Study #2

http://accelerate.ucsf.edu/search/node/mentoring