Developing Postdoctoral Scholar and Graduate Student Mentorship Ability

This research full paper presents a mixed methods study in developing the professional skills of engineering postdoctoral scholars and graduate students. It has been well documented that mentorship ability is crucial for mentee-mentor pairs in educational settings. The ability to be a mentor is a valuable professional skill for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students regardless of the career path taken following their education. How postdoctoral scholars and graduate students themselves develop an ability to mentor has not been widely researched. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Centers (ERC) provide summer mentoring opportunities, including Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students (REU), Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), and Young Scholars Program (YSP), for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students to learn and practice how to be a mentor. A major challenge associated with this opportunity is the belief that such activities are not a valuable time investment. This belief can come from both the postdoctoral scholar or graduate students and their advisors. This paper presented a mixed methods study to investigate how practicing mentorship impacts the development of various professional skills for those involved in ERC Summer Programs.