Collaborative Research: Mentoring Catalyst 4.0

Research on mentoring shows that positive mentoring experiences have a significant impact on the retention and persistence of emerging researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as increasing their research productivity. This award will support the development and implementation of strategies to improve STEM mentoring, specifically within NSF-funded engineering-focused programs. NSF-funded engineering researchers successfully provide research opportunities for participants at all career levels. However, many of these researchers lack substantive training or support in how to be effective mentors. The Mentoring Catalyst program was established to address this need and thereby enhance engineering workforce development through improving STEM mentoring. Mentoring Catalyst utilizes established best practices in mentoring to guide the development of the initiative. The overarching mission of the Mentoring Catalyst is to catalyze programmatic change that positively impacts the mentors and emerging researchers by establishing a community of practice around strong mentorship, student support, and research success. This award will support continued development and increased deployment of the Mentoring Catalyst program. The four overarching components of the Mentoring Catalyst 4.0 project are to 1) Provide mentorship training to NSF-funded STEM researchers; 2) Build and maintain a mentoring community of practice for both PIs and emerging researchers; 3) Host annual meetings for PIs to strengthen mentoring skills; and 4) Develop new mentor training materials focused on mentoring emerging researchers in engineering. To achieve these goals, the Mentoring Catalyst 4.0 will continue to provide an online “Entering Mentoring” workshop and will host annual PI meetings, while also building additional programming centered around effective sustained mentorship. During the online workshops, mentors will be convened to discuss mentoring practices, while also establishing a strong community of NSF-funded mentors. By the culmination of the virtual workshop, mentors will have developed mentoring philosophies and plans, which will be shared with the NSF mentoring community through online platforms and more broadly through peer reviewed publications and presentations at national meetings. NSF-supported mentors will also be invited to participate in an annual two-day Mentoring Conference that will include training on how to implement mentor training at their home institutions as well as sharing of best practices utilized by each unique program. Mentoring Catalyst 4.0 will support sustained mentoring of emerging researchers through providing mentoring on professional skills at annual Mentoring Catalyst Engineering Research, Career, and Communication workshops. Additionally, Catalyst 4.0 will develop new mentor training materials focused on mentoring K-12 educators participating in research experiences such as the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program. These activities facilitate the continued establishment of a strong community of practice that brings together long-standing programs with newly established NSF-supported projects to increase the commitment towards strong mentorship, student support and research success. Ultimately, Mentoring Catalyst is expected to enhance engineering workforce development through improving STEM mentoring. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.