Selecting a Research Mentor

Selecting a Research Mentor The choice of a research mentor and an associated multidisciplinary training area (MTA) by the student (mentee), as well as the mentor’s acceptance of the mentee, should be regarded as a mutual commitment. This partnership is based on the understanding that the student will remain with their chosen research mentor until the thesis is completed. Students should select a mentor only after completing a period of research rotation. Both mentor and mentee should use the Compact for PhD Students and Preceptors as a basis to make sure that both parties are aware of their respective responsibilities and expectations, and apply the knowledge and skills from the “Responsible Conduct of Research” training (Course Code BSR1021). Such a partnership relies on open and transparent lines of communication to ensure understanding of the mentoring partnership and enhance the mentee’s training experience.

Students must understand that their research mentor is a primary mentor, providing research direction and career guidance. Research mentors are expected to foster the student’s independence, encourage collaborative work, presentations, and departmental seminar participation, introduce the student to colleagues, assist with manuscript writing and submission for publication, help identify and address strengths and weaknesses, and support career development. However, other faculty who take particular interest in the student’s growth and development as scientists may also serve as important mentors. Students are encouraged, with the guidance of their mentors and advisors, to develop relationships with those faculty whom they feel can provide significant research, career, and personal guidance, and may choose to include these faculty members on their thesis advisory committee (see section on Thesis Advisory Committee to follow).

Disagreements or disputes may arise between a mentee and their research mentor, thesis advisory committee, or MTA. These disputes may arise from the student’s laboratory training experiences or from concerns that the student’s academic progress is not meeting the expectations of the thesis advisory committee, MTA, and/or mentor. In such circumstances, every effort should be made to rectify these issues before they escalate into a situation that could make the mentor(s)-mentee partnership non-productive. Procedures for mediating disputes are outlined in Changes to a Mentor-Mentee Partnership which follow.

Irreconcilable differences that are not resolved by mediation may necessitate a change in the mentor(s)-mentee partnership, thesis advisory committee, or MTA. Such changes may be instigated by the mentor(s) or mentee, and policies and procedures to make such changes are outlined in Changes to a Mentor-Mentee Partnership which follow.

For MD/PhD students, the choice of a research mentor and MTA is done through lab rotations during the first two summers in the MD/PhD program. MD/PhD students end their second year in the program with being accepted into the laboratory of a Graduate Faculty member.

Each PhD student should complete the Dissertation Advisor/MTA Declaration Form before the end of the second semester in the Program. MD/PhD program strongly encourages its students to submit this form by March 1 of the second year/ fourth semester in the Program; however, for the form deadline is June 30 of that year. At this time, the student must also select at least three members for an Advisory Committee. Committee members should be selected because of their ability to provide scientific and/or technical support for the dissertation project. Advisory Committee members must be members of the Graduate Faculty. Two Advisory Committee members are experts in the area of the student’s research; a third member must be from a related field but need not be expert in the student’s area of research.

MD/PhD students are encouraged to add a clinical/translational (C/T) investigator, who need not be a member of the Graduate Faculty, to their Advisory Committee to provide feedback about the C/T impact of their research. This Form should be submitted to the Graduate School Office with all the required signatures as soon as possible, but no later than June 30.

One indication of satisfactory progress in the Program is the demonstration of the potential for research and the timely selection of a mentor and MTA. PhD students are expected to declare a dissertation advisor and MTA no later than 12 months after matriculation. MD/PhD students are expected to declare by the end of the second year in the Program.

The choice of a research mentor by the student and the acceptance of that student by the future research mentor should be considered a commitment on the part of both parties that the student will remain with the chosen research mentor until the thesis is completed. If a student is contemplating a change in research mentor or MTA, or, if the research mentor is unsatisfied with the academic progress of the student, mediation should be sought to remedy this situation by first meeting with the MTA Director and the student’s Advisory Committee. (MD/PhD students should also confer with the MSTP directors.) If necessary, the Dean of the Graduate School may also meet with the student and their research mentor. Movement between MTAs is permitted if the student is certified, in writing by the MTA Director(s), to be in good academic standing by the original MTA and is accepted, in writing, by the proposed MTA. Students who are contemplating a change must discuss this fully with the current research mentor. These changes invariably involve some loss of time and dislocation to both student and research mentor and possibly extra coursework. Careful guidance by the student’s Advisory Committee will reduce the number of such changes and will increase the likelihood that those changes that do occur are productive.