Mentor Program
Criteria for Mentor and Protégés · Guidelines for Mentors and Protégés
Purpose: to provide highly motivated students and new researchers in the field of exposure science with one-on-one email-based mentoring relationships with established researchers from industry, government and academia.
How it works: The Student and New Researchers Committee maintains a database of available mentors. To be included in the database, mentors provide a profile with a description of their educational and professional backgrounds including exposure science expertise, years of experience and preferences for discussing common mentoring topics such as graduate school decisions, dissertation process, job search, writing grants and papers, and work/family balance. Each mentor will have a maximum of 2 protégés.
Protégés select their mentor from the available mentor profiles. The mentor committee confirms with the selected mentor and provides contact information to both the mentor and protégé. We are currently building our mentor database; if a suitable mentor is not available, please check back for updates.
Once a mentor and protégé have been matched they will decide together about timing and frequency of contact. Expect to exchange approximately one email a week or as needed. Emailed discussion suggestions will be sent out once a month to all mentors and protégés to keep the line of communication open and provide ideas of relevant topics.
Once a year, coinciding with annual dues, mentors and protégés are asked to confirm their continued participation in the mentoring program.
At the annual conference an event is held to give mentors and protégés time to speak in person.
After the interaction, we request all participants complete a survey to provide feedback concerning the mentoring/protégé experience.
Criteria:
Mentor
- well-established professional background in exposure science including work experience
- willingness to mentor an undergraduate, graduate student or new researcher
- willingness to exchange email messages regularly with a protégé
- regular access to email
- new researchers can mentor students
If you are willing to be a mentor, please complete your profile at:http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pDcAFL6rd8Xjyz9wdi9BHCw&hl=en.
Protégé
- student or new researcher
- interested in developing a career in exposure science
- willing to exchange email messages regularly with mentor
- regular access to email
Look for a mentor:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pDcAFL6rd8Xjyz9wdi9BHCw
Please email your top three choices for a mentor to the Student and New Researchers Committee at ises_snr@live.com. You will receive an email with your mentor’s information, once their availability has been confirmed. We are currently building our mentor database, so if a suitable mentor is not available, please check back for updates.
Need some ideas for what to discuss with your mentor? Look at our list of discussion topics.
Guidelines:
This relationship is not expected to replace existing relationships that exist within universities or other workplace settings for a student, post doc or junior faculty with a thesis advisor/more senior faculty but rather to supplement that with someone with specific interests in exposure science that match that of the protégé.
The mentor and protégé should establish ground rules about timing and frequency of contact and areas of discussion.
Mentor match primarily will focus on career path planning; however, discussions are not limited to these topics.
Confidentially is important and will be protected in this on-line system, and it is anticipated that the information shared by the protégé and mentor should be kept confidential. ISES is not responsible for any breaks in confidentiality.
Advice given by the mentor does not necessarily reflect the views of the ISES.
Either the mentor or protégé may terminate the relationship at any time by notifying the other.
The mentor and protégé can remove his or her name from the potential mentor or protégé pool at any time.
Mentor
Be flexible, take the initiative, and be responsive. Remember what it was like when you were in our protégé’s position. Take initiative to suggest discussion topics, share personal experiences, pose questions, and engage in small talk until a relevant topic for discussion emerges. Be responsive to your protégé’s questions and comments. If you do not have the time to offer a full response shortly after you receive an email message, send a short message letting her/him know you will be in contact when you have the opportunity.
Protégé
Be teachable, take initiative, and honor your commitment. Be willing to learn new things, obtain another perspective and be responsive to suggestions and constructive criticism. Take the initiative to ask your mentor a question to let him or her know what you are working on, and to ask about his or her academic and professional experiences. In addition, sustain the mentoring relationship by engaging in small talk until a relevant topic for discussion emerges. Please be appreciative of your mentor’s time and investment; mentors usually have very demanding jobs and are participating because they are committed to mentoring other exposure scientists. Respond in a timely manner to your mentor’s questions and comments. If you don’t have the time to respond at the time, send a short message letting him or her know you will be in contact when you have the opportunity.