Success in Physics: What's Mentoring Got to Do With It?

Over the last two decades, mentoring at all levels of education has been proven to be an effective tool for enhancing academic performance and retention, increasing self-esteem and self-efficacy, and developing professional skills for both mentors and mentees. Considering the growing number of students of color in the United States in parallel with the diminishing number of individuals from diverse populations entering graduate degree programs, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), optimizing mentoring is critically important to advancing participation and success in physics and STEM fields. This talk presents examples of how to increase success amongst STEM graduate students and broaden participation of all students, with particular attention to underrepresented minorities, through sustained peer mentoring and training. Personal examples from the speaker’s professional and personal experiences as both mentee and mentor in physics, engineering and policy demonstrate the capacity of mentoring interventions and research to support both student and faculty efforts to build legacies of STEM success through mentoring.