Learn about how the Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center of Excellence (MarSci-LACE) is working to create a mentoring community of practice within Mote Marine Laboratory and partner institutions to better recruit, support and retain minority students in marine science. Since the start of our program we have built a robust mentor development workshop that all mentors undergo in order to host a Research Experience for Undergraduates intern, an extensive mentor resource guide and monthly informal discussions for mentors to share mentoring challenges, successes and opportunities for growth with each other. Through the creation of the Mentor Alliance, which mirrors and complements the Intern Alliance, we have worked to encourage not only the development of our interns, but also our mentors to build an institutional culture of growth and support around undergraduate research experiences.
Science, Mentoring, Broadening Participation
Mote Marine Lab
Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES), Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
Related Content for MarSci-LACE: Creating a mentoring community of practice
Discussion from the 2022 STEM For All Video Showcase (11 posts)
George Hein
Facilitator Professor Emeritus
May 10, 2022 | 07:50 a.m.
Mentorship is certainly a key component in bringing any intern into the actual world of science (or teaching science). What a great idea to focus on this topic.
Can you describe for us how you reached out to find the interns who would not naturally decide to become involved in the work Mote Marine Laboratory?
Jasmin Graham
Lead Presenter MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
May 12, 2022 | 02:29 p.m.
We worked a lot with professors to personally connect with students they thought would benefit from the program. We also tapped into BIPOC-serving scientific societies like Black in Marine Science, Minorities in Shark Sciences, Black Women in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Science, Minorities in Aquarium and Zoo Science and Latinx in the Marine Sciences. We also changed the way we do applications to make it less daunting and added that no experience or swimming ability was necessary to participate. That helped as well
Stephen Uzzo
Facilitator Chief Scientist
May 10, 2022 | 07:50 a.m.
Particularly interesting to me is how the video clip portrays the program as a mentorship "ecology" in which all of the people, resources, and perspectives seem to magnify the whole. My question is what approach you have used to identify how the community of practice has emerged from the work, and maybe even what changes you might have had to make to tighten the interaction among mentors and mentees?
Jasmin Graham
Lead Presenter MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
May 12, 2022 | 02:34 p.m.
We are constantly evaluating this through exit interviews with mentees, pre/post surveys with mentees, mentor briefings and debriefings with mentors at the start and end of each semester and regular check-ins with mentors and mentees throughout the semester. Our Mentor Alliance meetings happen monthly and mostly we let the mentors drive the conversation so they can discuss things that are most relevant to them and learn from each other. From what we hear throughout every stage of the process we are able to provide resources to support both mentors and mentees
It looks like you've designed an effective mentor-training program that inspired a cultural shift toward more inclusive mentoring. At my institution, we are working on a project that we hope will do the same. I was wondering: (1) How do you encourage mentors to get involved in the program, especially those who don't see inclusion as a problem?, (2) Have you assessed the change in student experience as a result of the mentor training program?, and (3) Are your mentor training materials available?
Jasmin Graham
Lead Presenter MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
May 12, 2022 | 05:13 p.m.
1) We started out by recruiting mentors who were already excited/interested in growing as mentors and already recognized that inclusion should be a priority, we trained them to train other people in their lab groups. Once we had basically someone in every department engaged in the program we then made it mandatory, which went over smoothly because they had been hearing about the program from colleagues and therefore realized they were in the minority and that they should probably get on board or at least be receptive. We've had no complaints. 2) Yes, we do pre/post surveys, exit surveys and regular checkins we also have data from before it was mandated to compare experiences of folks who had mentors that went through the training and didn't. It made a significant difference which is how we got approval to mandate it. 3) They will be. We are doing our first workshop on our mentor program at LS-PAC this year and will start disseminating resources and doing additional workshops over the course of the next year.
I love the idea of a. mentor development program that looks for ways to serve the mentor and help them in scholarly growth. We had some aspects of this in our grant with a cohort of students who were trained by faculty and went on to be great mentors to other students. We let students tell us about themselves and their interests in an application process and then provided them ways to. explore their interests and related interests and watched them grow. These students then became more connected to the campus and academics as their comfort level with each other and faculty grew. They then naturally influenced other students who then also started spending more time on campus in academic pursuits.
I really liked your idea of moving from choosing students who have had the experience to instead thinking about what can be provided to interns. Thanks!
Jasmin Graham
Lead Presenter MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
May 12, 2022 | 05:14 p.m.
Thanks for your kind words, Jayashree!
Folashade Solomon
Facilitator Associate Professor
May 11, 2022 | 09:45 p.m.
I appreciate the mentee centered approach to mentoring. How have the mentees described their experiences in the program?
Jasmin Graham
Lead Presenter MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
May 12, 2022 | 05:19 p.m.
Our video presented at last year's STEM for All Showcase went into the detail about the experience from the perspective of the interns, but here's a quote I think encompasses most of what we've heard:
“This has been one of the most transformative learning experiences I have ever encountered.”
Hi Jasmin. I love the that your project reached out to and included BIPOC scientific societies and how it made it accessible inclusive for people to participate. I like how the project creates space for mentors to lead and participants to learn from each other.
George Hein
Professor Emeritus
Mentorship is certainly a key component in bringing any intern into the actual world of science (or teaching science). What a great idea to focus on this topic.
Can you describe for us how you reached out to find the interns who would not naturally decide to become involved in the work Mote Marine Laboratory?
Jasmin Graham
MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
We worked a lot with professors to personally connect with students they thought would benefit from the program. We also tapped into BIPOC-serving scientific societies like Black in Marine Science, Minorities in Shark Sciences, Black Women in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Science, Minorities in Aquarium and Zoo Science and Latinx in the Marine Sciences. We also changed the way we do applications to make it less daunting and added that no experience or swimming ability was necessary to participate. That helped as well
Stephen Uzzo
Chief Scientist
Particularly interesting to me is how the video clip portrays the program as a mentorship "ecology" in which all of the people, resources, and perspectives seem to magnify the whole. My question is what approach you have used to identify how the community of practice has emerged from the work, and maybe even what changes you might have had to make to tighten the interaction among mentors and mentees?
Jasmin Graham
MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
We are constantly evaluating this through exit interviews with mentees, pre/post surveys with mentees, mentor briefings and debriefings with mentors at the start and end of each semester and regular check-ins with mentors and mentees throughout the semester. Our Mentor Alliance meetings happen monthly and mostly we let the mentors drive the conversation so they can discuss things that are most relevant to them and learn from each other. From what we hear throughout every stage of the process we are able to provide resources to support both mentors and mentees
Meagen Pollock
It looks like you've designed an effective mentor-training program that inspired a cultural shift toward more inclusive mentoring. At my institution, we are working on a project that we hope will do the same. I was wondering: (1) How do you encourage mentors to get involved in the program, especially those who don't see inclusion as a problem?, (2) Have you assessed the change in student experience as a result of the mentor training program?, and (3) Are your mentor training materials available?
Jasmin Graham
MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
1) We started out by recruiting mentors who were already excited/interested in growing as mentors and already recognized that inclusion should be a priority, we trained them to train other people in their lab groups. Once we had basically someone in every department engaged in the program we then made it mandatory, which went over smoothly because they had been hearing about the program from colleagues and therefore realized they were in the minority and that they should probably get on board or at least be receptive. We've had no complaints. 2) Yes, we do pre/post surveys, exit surveys and regular checkins we also have data from before it was mandated to compare experiences of folks who had mentors that went through the training and didn't. It made a significant difference which is how we got approval to mandate it. 3) They will be. We are doing our first workshop on our mentor program at LS-PAC this year and will start disseminating resources and doing additional workshops over the course of the next year.
Jayashree Balakrishna
I love the idea of a. mentor development program that looks for ways to serve the mentor and help them in scholarly growth. We had some aspects of this in our grant with a cohort of students who were trained by faculty and went on to be great mentors to other students. We let students tell us about themselves and their interests in an application process and then provided them ways to. explore their interests and related interests and watched them grow. These students then became more connected to the campus and academics as their comfort level with each other and faculty grew. They then naturally influenced other students who then also started spending more time on campus in academic pursuits.
I really liked your idea of moving from choosing students who have had the experience to instead thinking about what can be provided to interns. Thanks!
Jasmin Graham
MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
Thanks for your kind words, Jayashree!
Folashade Solomon
Associate Professor
I appreciate the mentee centered approach to mentoring. How have the mentees described their experiences in the program?
Jasmin Graham
MarSci-LACE Project Coordinator
Our video presented at last year's STEM for All Showcase went into the detail about the experience from the perspective of the interns, but here's a quote I think encompasses most of what we've heard:
“This has been one of the most transformative learning experiences I have ever encountered.”
Link to last year's video: https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/presentati...
Marilu Lopez Fretts
Hi Jasmin. I love the that your project reached out to and included BIPOC scientific societies and how it made it accessible inclusive for people to participate. I like how the project creates space for mentors to lead and participants to learn from each other.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.