The Making of an Accessible Intensive Research Experience

Gains and Losses in Virtual Mentorship: A Descriptive Case Study of Undergraduate Mentees and Graduate Mentors in STEM Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Some used this as an opportunity to mentor on aspects of research or career development that they had not previously emphasized, while others withdrew, not wanting to burden their mentees. Based on these findings, we recommend that graduate student mentors engaging in virtual mentorship focus the goals of the research experience to include understanding the usefulness of literature review, project design, and the scientific process (Hubbard and Dunbar, 2017;Symons et al, 2017;Sen et al, 2018) and emphasize development of both technical and transferable skills (Gregg et al, 2016;Menzel et al, 2019;Trott et al, 2020). It is also important that research goals and activities are clearly communicated with undergraduate mentees to ensure all parties have shared expectations.…”

“…This pandemic forced traditionally wet lab fields to adapt to virtual work spaces; the methods described here and other technologies may be helpful in reducing the barriers to entry for individuals who have been disproportionately excluded from STEM, such as those with disabilities, both during and after COVID-19 (Gregg et al, 2016;Jones, 2016;Jeannis et al, 2018;Lillywhite and Wolbring, 2019). In this way, virtual research and mentorship may demonstrate an opportunity to make STEM more accessible and inclusive, which can greatly benefit the field as well as individuals (Smith-Doerr et al, 2017;Kendricks et al, 2019;Menzel et al, 2019;Asai, 2020). Data from the present study also demonstrate what research in work-from-home models has indicated, that productivity can occur outside "traditional" workplace environments and schedules when research productivity encompasses both data collection but also other research and professional development activities (Bloom et al, 2015;Bao et al, 2020).…”

“…Taken together, these studies demonstrate that virtual mentoring can provide many of the benefits of face-to-face mentoring, but the methods used in the virtual mentoring session and the training of mentors are important for the beneficial effects to be realized (Gregg et al, 2016;Jeannis et al, 2018;Menzel et al, 2019). This is critical because of the demonstrated role that research mentorship plays for both the undergraduate student mentee and the graduate student mentor.…”

“…In contrast, negative research or mentoring experiences can have lasting effects on students' mental health, self-confidence, and/or careers. Students who have negative mentoring experiences can feel stressed and excluded from the scientific community and may perceive that their contributions are not valued (Dolan and Johnson, 2009;Jeannis et al, 2018;Menzel et al, 2019). Graduate students also benefit from mentoring more novice students in research activities as they gain assistance in their own research efforts and learn teaching and management skills that are valuable for careers in both academia and industry (Dolan and Johnson, 2009;Limeri, Asif, and Dolan, 2019).…”

“…Students who have negative mentoring experiences can feel stressed and excluded from the scientific community and may perceive that their contributions are not valued ( Dolan and Johnson, 2009 ; Jeannis et al. , 2018 ; Menzel et al. , 2019 ).…”