Mentoring Plan for PhD Students
Communication and Meetings
How would you describe your advising style? Does your approach vary over the course of a student's progress within their degree?
Informal
What is the best way/technology for students to contact you? Are there time frames in which students should expect to hear from you?
my office during our meeting, slack, email, txt, phone (in that order)
How often do you plan to meet with students one-on-one (be as specific as possible, it's okay to describe multiple styles that may vary with student needs)? Is an agenda required? How long are meetings?
45 min/week one-one,
Do you have regular group meetings? What does student participation look like in a group meeting?
2 hours/week group meeting, yes they all participate
Research and Teaching Expectations
Describe your students' primary area(s) of responsibility and expectations (e.g., reading peer-reviewed literature, in-lab working hours, etc.).
It depends on the research problem. In general reading peer-reviewed literature, in-lab working hours, modeling, shadowing etc.
How do you decide authorship and/or authorship order?
Student first or second, depending if the paper was led by a more senior student in the group.
Do you ask students in your group to serve as a GSI over the course of their program?
Yes, after seeing that they are interested and eager to do it.
Do you have general expectations for graduation?
1st year Conf Pape & RFPr, 2nd Year Journal and Conf Paper, 3rd Year 2nd Journal and 3rd Conf Paper and Prelim. Graduation after 3.5-4 years.
Are you supportive of your students going on internships? If so, is there a time of year that is best? How many internships can they do?
Yes, after their 2nd year. They can also go the 1st year if the internship aligns with research
Opportunities for Feedback
How do you provide students with feedback regarding overall progress, research activities, etc.?
Verbally and asking them to summarize our discussion.
How far in advance of a deadline should a student expect to provide written work for feedback, such as publication drafts?
2 months for the key take-aways and outline, 1 month a draft, I typically go through >4 iterations before submitting a conf paper. More iterations for Journal paper. >3 iterations for a patent.
How do you solicit feedback from your students?
I ask them to communicate their suggestion on how we can work more productively.
Conference Attendance
Which meetings do your students generally attend? What funding is available to attend these meetings?
>1 conference and 1 local presentation per year. Rackham, project funds, and discretionary.
Time Away from Campus
Discuss expectations regarding vacations and time away from campus and how best to plan for them. What is the time-frame for notification regarding anticipated absences?
We plan yearly and try to avoid skipping major stressful periods based on the project timeline
Are there specific standard times that students in your group generally take vacation?
Xmas, and Summer, but it is up to them and they have a total of 20 days.
What do you do to facilitate students taking time off (e.g., do you proactively encourage people to take vacation after major deadlines)?
After a large achievement, paper submission, conference travel. etc