(Currently: Watching over the baby.)
Last month, my student enrolled in a graduate teaching practicum class, and one of the final requirements for the course is a reaction paper on the consensus study report Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend – On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering published by the US National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering (NAE), and Medicine (IOM) in 1997. The report aims to be a guide for senior faculty and researchers who handle the younger students who are just starting out in their scientific careers. She wrote a very candid and personal response based on her own experiences.
Just a few days ago, my students – or, should I say, former students – arranged to have their new thesis advisers approved by the lab. They met with their prospective advisers and discussed the conditions of their transfer, and wrote a formal letter to FYI the lab.
And just today, as I browse through my LinkedIn feed (my new phone has the LinkedIn app pre-installed, and it alerts me all the time), I read some articles about the relationships between the supervisors and their people.
These things made me think about the topic of mentoring. It made me reflect on the different personalities and styles of my mentors, and my very own version of mentoring with the students that I have had. These are just some of the things that came to mind.
My mentors
I got really lucky to have found an adviser who values the advisee himself, and not just the output and achievements.
I consider my graduate studies to be the start of my scientific career. That was the time when I seriously considered doing scientific research in an academic setting. My supervisor, Dr. Christopher Monterola, proved to be all of the above-mentioned roles of a good mentor. He was an adviser to us, in research and in life. He was literally our teacher in some of our courses. He was a role model for his dedication and tireless efforts; we knew how to do research because of him. And, most importantly, he was (and still is) a dear friend, a person you can entrust your life with.
The latter role – being a friend – is a particularly important aspect of the mentoring I received, and is perhaps one of the main reasons why I stayed in this field. And it was noteworthy, considering the general state of mentoring in the institute during that time. Many of the senior professors back then were trained and educated in Japan, where a sensei culture is deeply rooted. In such a culture, the students are supposed to always yield to the supervisor, out of a tradition of strong respect. In the lab, we were always told that, even if the adviser is wrong, we need to do first what we were told to do, to show the adviser that he/she is wrong; and then proceed with what we think was the better approach.
While this approach works (and is actually effective, in some cases), I personally believe that it is actually an impediment to the establishment of a strong and lasting friendship between the mentor and the student. The mentor always expects to be treated like a boss, and the student will always view himself as a subordinate. That, to me, runs counter to the definition of a friend, who, I think, is someone you can see eye to eye with. A “friendship” may develop between two such people, but such is a shallow kind, one that always has a gap, and is based more on subordination than genuine personal concern for one another.
Another potential danger with this kind of mentoring is for the mentor to demand respect, and for the students to give it out of fear. Here's a snapshot of a Forbes article that I have read (for the life of me, I couldn't find the link to the original article...) about a lousy manager:
The key idea here is that, when the mentor becomes relatively worse off than before (due to age, among other factors), and he ‘loses it’ so to speak, he may still expect to get the same respect. As such, his ideas will still take precedence over other possibly better ideas. If you ask me, that is downright detrimental to science. For this sensei culture to be continuously effective, therefore, the mentor should come to realize his limitations over time, and be trusting enough to give way when his time is up (this, I think, is the very reason why this culture is very effective in Japan; the mentors actually pave the way for the next generation). Needless to say, this kind of mentoring culture fails miserably with incompetent and insecure seniors who are threatened (instead of encouraged) by the younger generation.
Going back to my own experiences as a student, I realized that I received an effective kind of mentoring because Dr. Monterola wanted us to be his friend. He was (and still is) not afraid to show his humanity, including the tender parts and the negative sides, which, I think, would be unthinkable for the other supervisors during that time. He is our drinking buddy, karaoke duet partner, and kumpare (we are, in fact, godfathers and godmothers of his kids).
The thing with such an approach? When friendship is established first, trust and respect is earned by the mentor (and not extracted out or demanded from the student) because these things will be willingly given to them. Why, even though he wants us to call him just Chris, I still can't, even now (and having written it here is no different from actually calling him that; I feel that it's weirdly disrespectful for me to have done so).
It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that I would have never reached this point if not for him.
(Cue in The Wind Beneath My Wings or You Raise Me Up, a la karaoke session. 😂)
My Kind of Mentoring
When I got back from postdoc, I tried, as much as I can, to replicate the kind of environment that I myself had when I was under my graduate supervisor.
I became a friend first. When I first got my new students, I tried to get to know them as much as I can. Their educational backgrounds and their achievements in high school, no matter how small or insignificant. Their families, and how they view their decisions to take up physics in college. Their love lives. 💖 Heck, we spend hours on hours discussing matters of the heart, oftentimes laughing and/or crying together.
One of the things that I also added to my arsenal as a mentor is a deep understanding of the factors that made these individuals like they are (their current state), and being non-judgmental. I realized that not all students have impeccable academic records; some are actually just victims of the circumstances, while others are just not focused enough due to a myriad of other related factors. By judging these individuals based on what they are, we sometimes lose sight of what they can be. Which is counter-productive, and just plain sad. To see the students aim higher and achieve more than they thought they ever can: isn't that the whole point of mentoring?
(I made an entry about this in my Filipino blog: about the difference between being picked and being picked up. Or about diamonds in the rough.)
Again, I found something relevant from my LinkedIn feed (whose link, again, I couldn't find anymore):
At this point, instead of giving my opinions about my own style, let me just objectively mention the results: all my students have had national conference papers by their first few months under my tutelage, and all have submissions by the end of their last years in college or the start of their graduate studies. Majority of my students have gone out of the country at some point to present their papers in international conferences. Two of them had international journal publications as undergrads.
I think my style has worked, so far.
One of the major challenges in this kind of mentoring is on maintaining the discipline when things go wrong. Sometimes, I tend to just skip through the minor transgressions (which, I think, is good), but, in the end, when it accumulates into something bigger, I tend to be harsh with my words. I think I can do better in this department as I continue to be a mentor in the coming years.
Also, I realized that the individual students can be very different from each other. The adjustments to be made to be able to suit the individual student's needs has to come from the mentor.
Final Remarks
To borrow a physics concept, mentoring is like a potential energy. It is a shared property; you can't have a potential energy without an interaction. The success of the mentor is not just solely resting on his abilities and capabilities; it is, in fact, heavily influenced by the interaction one has with his/her students.
A good technical adviser is not necessarily a good mentor; mentorship entails more than research guidance. A good teacher is not necessarily a good mentor; a teacher only shares the knowledge, but doesn't exactly mold the students. A good role model is not necessarily a good mentor; it will be useless if the students are not influenced to follow even the best examples. And, finally, a friend is not necessarily a good mentor; without competence, the partnership will not prosper.
The mentor, clearly, is all of the above, at the right combinations, and with each roles coming at the right extent, as required by the individual students. I therefore agree with my student's assessment that being a mentor is not for all. Or, at least, it doesn't come automatically, by virtue of age or achievements or position.
Just like any other human endeavor, continuous effort is required to be skilful enough to handle this delicate task. After all, the first lesson that a mentor should impart to his/her student is the ability to adapt, learn, and grow. And what better way to impart that than by being a good example. ◼
Just a few days ago, my students – or, should I say, former students – arranged to have their new thesis advisers approved by the lab. They met with their prospective advisers and discussed the conditions of their transfer, and wrote a formal letter to FYI the lab.
And just today, as I browse through my LinkedIn feed (my new phone has the LinkedIn app pre-installed, and it alerts me all the time), I read some articles about the relationships between the supervisors and their people.
These things made me think about the topic of mentoring. It made me reflect on the different personalities and styles of my mentors, and my very own version of mentoring with the students that I have had. These are just some of the things that came to mind.
 |
| Telemachus and Mentor, from the Odyssey. Because of Odysseus' journeys, it was Mentor who trained Telemachus (Odysseus' son). Image taken from here. Image is in the public domain. |
My mentors
I got really lucky to have found an adviser who values the advisee himself, and not just the output and achievements.
I consider my graduate studies to be the start of my scientific career. That was the time when I seriously considered doing scientific research in an academic setting. My supervisor, Dr. Christopher Monterola, proved to be all of the above-mentioned roles of a good mentor. He was an adviser to us, in research and in life. He was literally our teacher in some of our courses. He was a role model for his dedication and tireless efforts; we knew how to do research because of him. And, most importantly, he was (and still is) a dear friend, a person you can entrust your life with.
The latter role – being a friend – is a particularly important aspect of the mentoring I received, and is perhaps one of the main reasons why I stayed in this field. And it was noteworthy, considering the general state of mentoring in the institute during that time. Many of the senior professors back then were trained and educated in Japan, where a sensei culture is deeply rooted. In such a culture, the students are supposed to always yield to the supervisor, out of a tradition of strong respect. In the lab, we were always told that, even if the adviser is wrong, we need to do first what we were told to do, to show the adviser that he/she is wrong; and then proceed with what we think was the better approach.
While this approach works (and is actually effective, in some cases), I personally believe that it is actually an impediment to the establishment of a strong and lasting friendship between the mentor and the student. The mentor always expects to be treated like a boss, and the student will always view himself as a subordinate. That, to me, runs counter to the definition of a friend, who, I think, is someone you can see eye to eye with. A “friendship” may develop between two such people, but such is a shallow kind, one that always has a gap, and is based more on subordination than genuine personal concern for one another.
Another potential danger with this kind of mentoring is for the mentor to demand respect, and for the students to give it out of fear. Here's a snapshot of a Forbes article that I have read (for the life of me, I couldn't find the link to the original article...) about a lousy manager:
The key idea here is that, when the mentor becomes relatively worse off than before (due to age, among other factors), and he ‘loses it’ so to speak, he may still expect to get the same respect. As such, his ideas will still take precedence over other possibly better ideas. If you ask me, that is downright detrimental to science. For this sensei culture to be continuously effective, therefore, the mentor should come to realize his limitations over time, and be trusting enough to give way when his time is up (this, I think, is the very reason why this culture is very effective in Japan; the mentors actually pave the way for the next generation). Needless to say, this kind of mentoring culture fails miserably with incompetent and insecure seniors who are threatened (instead of encouraged) by the younger generation.
Going back to my own experiences as a student, I realized that I received an effective kind of mentoring because Dr. Monterola wanted us to be his friend. He was (and still is) not afraid to show his humanity, including the tender parts and the negative sides, which, I think, would be unthinkable for the other supervisors during that time. He is our drinking buddy, karaoke duet partner, and kumpare (we are, in fact, godfathers and godmothers of his kids).
The thing with such an approach? When friendship is established first, trust and respect is earned by the mentor (and not extracted out or demanded from the student) because these things will be willingly given to them. Why, even though he wants us to call him just Chris, I still can't, even now (and having written it here is no different from actually calling him that; I feel that it's weirdly disrespectful for me to have done so).
It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that I would have never reached this point if not for him.
(Cue in The Wind Beneath My Wings or You Raise Me Up, a la karaoke session. 😂)
 |
| Our team, circa 2012. |
My Kind of Mentoring
When I got back from postdoc, I tried, as much as I can, to replicate the kind of environment that I myself had when I was under my graduate supervisor.
I became a friend first. When I first got my new students, I tried to get to know them as much as I can. Their educational backgrounds and their achievements in high school, no matter how small or insignificant. Their families, and how they view their decisions to take up physics in college. Their love lives. 💖 Heck, we spend hours on hours discussing matters of the heart, oftentimes laughing and/or crying together.
One of the things that I also added to my arsenal as a mentor is a deep understanding of the factors that made these individuals like they are (their current state), and being non-judgmental. I realized that not all students have impeccable academic records; some are actually just victims of the circumstances, while others are just not focused enough due to a myriad of other related factors. By judging these individuals based on what they are, we sometimes lose sight of what they can be. Which is counter-productive, and just plain sad. To see the students aim higher and achieve more than they thought they ever can: isn't that the whole point of mentoring?
(I made an entry about this in my Filipino blog: about the difference between being picked and being picked up. Or about diamonds in the rough.)
Again, I found something relevant from my LinkedIn feed (whose link, again, I couldn't find anymore):
At this point, instead of giving my opinions about my own style, let me just objectively mention the results: all my students have had national conference papers by their first few months under my tutelage, and all have submissions by the end of their last years in college or the start of their graduate studies. Majority of my students have gone out of the country at some point to present their papers in international conferences. Two of them had international journal publications as undergrads.
I think my style has worked, so far.
One of the major challenges in this kind of mentoring is on maintaining the discipline when things go wrong. Sometimes, I tend to just skip through the minor transgressions (which, I think, is good), but, in the end, when it accumulates into something bigger, I tend to be harsh with my words. I think I can do better in this department as I continue to be a mentor in the coming years.
Also, I realized that the individual students can be very different from each other. The adjustments to be made to be able to suit the individual student's needs has to come from the mentor.
Final Remarks
To borrow a physics concept, mentoring is like a potential energy. It is a shared property; you can't have a potential energy without an interaction. The success of the mentor is not just solely resting on his abilities and capabilities; it is, in fact, heavily influenced by the interaction one has with his/her students.
A good technical adviser is not necessarily a good mentor; mentorship entails more than research guidance. A good teacher is not necessarily a good mentor; a teacher only shares the knowledge, but doesn't exactly mold the students. A good role model is not necessarily a good mentor; it will be useless if the students are not influenced to follow even the best examples. And, finally, a friend is not necessarily a good mentor; without competence, the partnership will not prosper.
The mentor, clearly, is all of the above, at the right combinations, and with each roles coming at the right extent, as required by the individual students. I therefore agree with my student's assessment that being a mentor is not for all. Or, at least, it doesn't come automatically, by virtue of age or achievements or position.
Just like any other human endeavor, continuous effort is required to be skilful enough to handle this delicate task. After all, the first lesson that a mentor should impart to his/her student is the ability to adapt, learn, and grow. And what better way to impart that than by being a good example. ◼
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