Questions tagged [mentoring]
Questions regarding the role of a more senior or experienced individual (a mentor) providing guidance and advice to a more junior colleague or student. This relationship does not have to involve a formal supervisory position.
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Publishing in a field that I am not an expert in
To give you some backstory, there is a particular publically-available hospital dataset that has been published about by other groups. I have recently come up with a novel machine learning method for ...
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3
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Best practices for seeking mentoring feedback from my PhD students
As an early-career faculty member and advisor, I feel I could learn much from my PhD students' feedback about my mentorship style, how I could better support their learning and career development, the ...
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1
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182
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How to find a mentor when your PhD advisor isn't enough?
I'm a third year PhD candidate and have been working in a field that is very cross cutting. For context, my department is chemistry, although my research is very far removed from chemical application.
...
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1
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164
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How do i search for Mentors outside of my academic sphere?
I recently discovered a YouTuber who offers advice regarding the journey of pursuing a PhD. This content creator recommended seeking a mentor beyond the academic sphere to address challenges ...
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0
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187
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How unusual is it for a postdoc to do a K99 with a new mentor?
The K99 funding mechanism through NIH includes 2 years of mentored research (postdoc phase) followed by the R00 (independent PI phase) for 3 years. Based on the verbage of the grant, it appears geared ...
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12
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How can I supervise a careless student?
I am a postdoc in physics and was in an advisory role in a project with an undergraduate student majoring in math. It was my first time collaborating with someone junior to me. The collaboration was ...
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8
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As a student, can you publish about a hobby project far outside of your major and how does one do that?
I've been thinking about going through the process of writing and publishing a paper about the topic of a project I'm pursuing in my free time (purposefully keeping it vague because it's niche enough ...
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1
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Supervision/mentorship norms and options for assistant professor
Currently I am an assistant professor in a research group of a field which is not my main field. I do have a group leader of course, but I only see him for my yearly performance evaluations. I do have ...
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Series of simultaneous rejections, how to advise younger fellows
I myself work as a clinician-scientist. I work in a small group and oversee several students. The current situation involves one of them who is a PhD-candidate. She is bright, fast and hard-working. ...
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2
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My assigned postdoc mentor is not a good fit. How to proceed?
I finished my Ph.D in applied mathematics in a US institution last May. I have now started my postdoc position at another US institution last Fall. My post-doc is funded by the department of ...
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quality standards for joint paper written mostly by mentee
I am increasingly in a position where I am writing papers with students I am mentoring.
Since these projects are primarily meant to expose them to research, I will often have them take the lead on the ...
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How to spot abusive/incompetent supervisors in advance
I would wish to have some summary advice for the specific scenario of looking for a new postdoc position and trying to avoid ending up with a terrible supervisor. Let me narrow this question down by ...
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135
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How to find a mentor during my master's program?
I'm in my first semester of three for a Master's in Financial Engineering, and I have to say that it has inspired me to learn about so many new things. However, I'm having trouble finding any kind of ...
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182
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What is your advice on reaching out to an external mentor to judge a research idea I am working on?
I am working on a research idea and my advisor is not helping much, he is leaving me on my own. I thought a conversation with someone knowledgeable in the field would be good or even a collaboration. ...
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422
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How should I mentor a PhD student?
I am a postdoc and I would like to know how to mentor PhD students:
Goal: Make the student as productive as possible so that he can reach his highest potential and provide us as much results as ...
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673
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How can I find a mentor (not a supervisor)?
I am a first-year PhD student. My lab is very small and quite disconnected in terms of research from other groups in my department (we're interdisciplinary, the other groups are not)
There are some ...
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0
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Criticizing students (in an emotional way)?
My question is about interacting with students/colleagues, and criticizing them specifically, and to what extent a certain kind of criticism is productive. I hope this will not become about "...
user45103
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What tasks can undergraduates research assistants do effectively in the social sciences?
I'm a new faculty member and I have a number of undergraduate research assistants. I'm having trouble using up all the hours that they are assigned to work with me. Most weeks I run out of tasks to ...
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2
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Offer for a great (but too long) postdoc and a girlfriend in another country
I am in the shortlist for a postdoc at a great place and I highly admire my future mentor. He will try to argue for my application in front of the hiring committee in a few days.
The only concern I ...
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2
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286
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What to do when a supervisor withdraws their name from a graduate student's paper?
Context
Under my mentor's guidance and support, I've been working on a paper that has really bloomed.
It is exciting technically and scientifically - the technology invented and the new findings it ...
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2
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254
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How to ask friends for help?
I have some contacts on a social networking site who are much more knowledgeable than me. Some are PhDs/professors and some work in big tech companies (Google, Facebook, etc.). Every now and then, I ...
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Is asking my mentor, the post-interview opinion about my recruitment, unethical?
I recently attended an interview in which my supervisor is a panel mate.
After the interview, I met my mentor and asked whether I performed well and her opinion about the interview happened.
She (my ...
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6
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3
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512
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How to give advice when asked "Should I do a PhD program?"
There are many posts here with situation specific asks for advice on should one obtain a PhD, try a different PhD program, etc.
As someone who recently finished a PhD, I have been asked by students, ...
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487
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About my relationship with my mentor
I can not evaluate my relationship with my mentor. I'm in a really bad mood. For example, I went to talk to him today because he told me he would visit to my office to talk, but he did not. He had ...
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How to mentor an REU virtually?
I am a postdoc and I am mentoring a research exchange undergraduate (REU) student from another university virtually and I will say it's a bit strange. The student is not responding well to my emails ...
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341
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Should I mention about Mentoring students during my undergrad in my CV
Background: CS Undergrad applying to Fall 2022 PhD CS Programs USA.
I am mentoring 3 students personally. We have short sessions biweekly. This has helped them become better coders and secure ...
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Supervisor not giving helpful academic direction
I'm a second-year (almost third-year) PhD student having serious trouble due to lack of scientific direction. I initially worked well with my supervisor, but when COVID hit she essentially ghosted the ...
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I may have to write a bad recommendation for an underperforming student researcher in the Fall. How to avoid this without being exploitative?
TLDR: PhD student mentoring an undergrad in super competitive field. Undergrad has an amazing non-research CV, but no research experience. He says he's motivated but got very little done in 8 months. ...
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1
answer
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How do I find summer projects in math?
I'm a sophomore undergraduate majoring in mathematics, and I'm pretty sure about eventually applying to graduate school in pure math. However, I haven't done much other than coursework so far, and I'm ...
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Mentor added his name as the author and changed the series of authors into alphabetical order, effectively putting my name at the last
I was recruited by a university to work on a research project as a research fellow and have dedicated over 8 months to it. I have maintained a schedule of fortnightly presentations with another senior ...
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How to get professors to reply to my email of inquiry for research opportunities / Co-Advising
I am now in a thesis-track Master's program and will be applying to PhD next year. Now I want to do some research projects with some of the professors who have areas of interest that I am also ...
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295
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How to deal with a mentor asking for sudden tasks
Consider the following conversation:
Mentor: What is your progress?
Me: blah.... blah... blah...
Mentor: Okay.
Me: What about other tasks (if any)?
Mentor: Do not worry about them, I can handle, if ...
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How should I thank mentors that I connect with via the Internet?
I am an incoming undergraduate student, and I have reached out to people who are currently pursuing/once pursued the field that I'm interested in (it's physics if it matters), via the Internet. Most ...
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0
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385
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What kinds of student mentorship and supervision merit inclusion on CV?
An academic can mentor or supervise a student in many different ways, but I'm unclear about what actually merits inclusion on a CV. Some examples that are clear cut to me include:
-dissertation ...
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357
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Advancing my academic career in mathematics without university support
I am about eight months away from completing a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. I am what you would call a "non-traditional" student - I am an adult who decided to change careers and I'm ...
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How to seek an academic mentor?
I am a junior academic who is seeking an academic mentor to shape my career and have a stronger impact on the student and research community. What would be the best way to go about seeking a mentor?
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255
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When the co-author of a potential paper is not responsible
I am a math postdoc and my young mentor is unfortunately a lazy person. I have prepared a manuscript 4 months ago and still no news about revision of that from the mentor. I do not know what can I do. ...
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How to self-advocate after rotation rejection?
I am a first year PhD student. I just finished my first rotation lab and absolutely loved it. I met with my PI every week, and I never felt like she had a problem with me. Though I never had a frank ...
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I am reading a paper that I barely understand. How can I make the best of my mentor in this situation?
Half of my inability to understand the paper comes from not being acquainted with the folklore of this particular part of the field, and the other half might be because I am lacking general background ...
user115122
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How to tell my mentor to be careful when discussing my work in progress around people I do not trust?
I had a very bad experience with a colleague and just do not like/trust him. (Eavesdropping, lying, ...) I am working on a project with my mentor, and know they shared information with the colleague I ...
user115122
4
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3
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488
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How to keep team morale and efficiency when dealing with poor communication in a mentorship-like relation
I am currently mentoring/supervising a person within an academia-related field. This is not my first time in this role. I am easygoing, dislike unnecessary conflicts, and I like people to feel good ...
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My R01 application was re-assigned to a study section that doesn't seem like a good fit (NIH)
I submitted my first ever R01 application a few weeks ago and indicated that it be assigned to a specific study section (let's call it study section A). Yesterday, I received an email from the chief ...
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How do I find a collaborator for a social science research project if I'm not in school?
For context: I know exactly the topic and have an idea for the methods. I have done background research and seen what similar research has been done (and how). I have an associate’s degree. I live in ...
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Is it appropriate to "shop" through high-impact journals before sending the paper to more specialized journals?
I have recently finished writing my first paper for my PhD study. I believe I have made some discoveries, but by comparing my manuscript to previous work, I think the advance is not very big and the ...
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How to ask for lettler of recommendation from supervisor when he would be interacting very little with me?
I am an undergraduate student in my final year and started doing my bachelor's thesis in a research lab. My official thesis supervisor is head of the lab, and a highly experienced expert and equally ...
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3
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How often should I meet my direct mentor in bachelor's thesis?
I am doing my bachelor's (undergraduate) thesis in a research lab. My supervisor, who is head of the lab, has assigned a junior professor and his PhD student as my direct point of contact. With both ...
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How to Best Ask Mentor for Guidance
I'm not a currently enrolled grad student, but I am being adopted on as a "grad student" and am currently working on a project in pharmacology involving a lot of things that I'm not too familiar with. ...
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Book recommendations for a PhD supervisor
I will start mentoring my first PhD student this fall, and I would like to read some books to have it start the best way possible.
I have already supervised some Master and undergrad students, but I ...
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What is a delicate way of identifying key insiders?
I am beginning a doctoral program this Fall and have been receiving helpful advice from a recent graduate. While this graduate has mentioned a key mentor that will likely serve as my primary advisor, ...
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2
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Performing Poorly on Mentor's Exam
I was recently assigned a research mentor in my Master's program who also happens to be my professor (in a quantitative economics course). We've had a brief meeting to introduce ourselves, and I made ...
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