Mentors create environments where early career researchers can grow and develop.

Contributor Michael Gatchell

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For a young scientist the possibilities are endless, but a good mentor can make all of the difference in helping their career off to the right start.

Those who choose to become scientists can often point out one or several people who influenced them and started them on the journey that is their career. Already at an early stage in one’s education, there can be that one professor who made a longstanding impact. Even seemingly small actions make a big difference. This was the case for 2008 Nobel laureate in chemistry, Martin Chalfie. He fondly remembers a special teacher while he was an undergraduate student at Harvard, who personally ensured that Chalfie had a key to the library and could read the papers needed for a course. “He went out of his way — that was a wonderful thing,” Chalfie says.

The first experience that many people have of actually practicing science is during graduate school. The advisors naturally take on the role as mentors and create an environment where they can grow. This can be manifested in many different ways. For Brian Schmidt, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics, having frequent meetings with his PhD supervisor at Harvard were important. “Every morning I would bring in a plot of what I did the day before and we would talk it over,” he says. “He really imprinted lots of how to do science to me.” Continue reading →