Inclusive Mentoring Education Series Sets ERC Mentors Up for Success
The NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio) team, co-led by the University of Minnesota and Massachusetts General Hospital, developed a six-week inclusive mentoring education series that provided critical experiences and tools Center mentors can use to create an inclusive culture.
The mentoring education series was part of an overall program that equips mentors with the practices needed to establish an inclusive and welcoming community for students and faculty of all backgrounds. The program also aims to increase representational diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Developed in collaboration with the Center’s Engineering Development Workforce leaders, the six-week mentoring education series focused on how mentors can create inclusive environments. The program contained sessions on how mentors can apply diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in the context of their scientific work, create opportunities for community building, and prepare future engineers to be mentors and leaders in the field.
This series set the stage for ongoing mentor education experiences. The Center expects to create additional modules to support mentors and the undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty they mentor.
