What I expect from you: 

Be a good collaborator. You are a critical and respected member of my research team. I want to hear your unique perspectives and I welcome your input on experimental design and hypotheses. Just be sure to discuss any ideas with me before you make changes to an established protocol. 

 

Be eager to learn. You may not want—or have the capacity—to carve out your own research project, but I still expect you to set goals for what you want to get out of this experience. Please actively communicate these goals to me: I can’t help you achieve your expectations unless I know your short-term goals and long-term aspirations. I will give you an opportunity to fill out a short individual development plan to help us discuss and develop your goals over the course of your internship.  

 

Be a strong self-advocate. Please let me know how I can best help you fit your research into your busy schedule, and how we can best mold this collaboration to best meet your needs and expectations. If you want additional responsibility or to practice a specific skill set, please speak up! I am eager to help you get the most out of this experience. 

 

Be prompt and prepared. I do my best to accommodate your busy schedules and a healthy work-life balance, but sometimes tasks need to be completed at specific times. This is especially true in the summer when we are dealing with live plants and need to coordinate experiments across multiple people’s schedules. In the summer, please let me know at least a week in advance (or as soon as you can) about potential scheduling conflicts. In the ‘off’ season, please let me know a day in advance (or as soon as you can) about potential schedule conflicts.  In both the field and lab, adhering to safety guidelines is key. We will go over safety guidelines separately, but good common principles include: stay hydrated, wear appropriate clothing for the task, and always have a ‘buddy’ when working in the field. 

 

Be honest and transparent. Flexibility is key to collaboration, and I am happy to adapt my mentoring style throughout the course of the semester. To help me adapt, please let me know what is working well as well as what I can do better. Most importantly, speak up if you make a mistake. Mistakes happen. Indeed, they are an important part of the scientific process. I will never be angry at you for making a mistake and welcome the opportunity to guide you through critically assessing if a mistake should be corrected, acknowledged, or instead necessitates rerunning the experiment. 

 

Be respectful. I encourage people from all backgrounds and of all identities to join our research team, and I will regularly welcome you to engage in evidence-based conversations about implicit biases within the sciences. Please be respectful that everyone comes from different backgrounds and have different perspectives, and that these differences are critical to building a productive and inclusive research community. 

 

Be a good team member. I ask you to help me set a positive and inclusive lab culture. I will also provide you with opportunities to train other members of the lab on specific tasks (once you are comfortable doing so). 

 

What you should expect from me: 

Flexibility. I recognize that every person faces different priorities and different pressures, and I will do my best to accommodate your busy schedule. I also believe in a healthy work-life balance and will work with you to help this experience align with your other priorities. I will try to respond to your emails as soon as I am able, but I will try not to initiate any new email chains over the weekends or in the evenings in respect of your work-life balance. Please note: you are welcome to email me whenever you would like, although I may be slower to respond to emails over the weekend.  

 

Availability. I believe strongly in giving you the time and space to explore your own strengths and weaknesses. To complement this independence, we will also set up regular meetings to discuss your progress, questions, and findings. We will also use these meetings to learn more about you personally and professionally, so that we can best tailor my mentorship to you as an individual. 

 

Professional development opportunities. I try my best to tailor my mentorship to your individual goals and needs. However, I believe strongly in helping all members of my lab build the necessary confidence and skill set to reach their career aspirations. This may mean helping you pursue your own questions using the scientific process (all the way from design and implementation to analysis and outreach).  This may mean helping you find opportunities that may not be directly related to research and/or may be outside of my lab. 

 

A personal and professional advocate. I care deeply about your happiness and I recognize that everyone has their own set of strengths and passions. My goal is not to convert you to my own discipline, but to help you build the skill set and confidence you will need to be successful as you pursue your own path to success. 

 

A long-term commitment. I care deeply about my students both personally and professionally and I want us to form lasting relationships.  From helping you apply to future jobs to brainstorming how you can pursue a career that best meets your desired balance of personal and professional goals, I am eager to support you in your future endeavors. 

 

A champion of evidence-based mentorship strategies. I promote an actively anti-racist research team that celebrates all types of diversity. I know I will make mistakes as I continue to increase my cultural competency, decrease my own implicit biases, and advocate for people from traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences. However, I promise to learn from my mistakes, and own and apologize for any hurt I may cause along the way.