Preparing for a career in academia: Mentoring students in research

Abstract

A new faculty member faces challenges associated with meeting and balancing various teaching, research, and citizenship demands. This includes managing students as part of developing a research program. Despite the vital importance of this skill, effective employee management is not something a student inherently learns in graduate school nor does it often receive attention as part of new faculty development workshops. This paper discusses lessons learned regarding research student management at an institution with an active student-based acoustics research group. These include setting a scholarly goal at the outset with specific result-driven milestones and clear expectations of the "end game," adopting a management style that is best suited to each student's personality, adapting the project where possible to student strengths, and helping them learn to write as early as possible. Graduate students can be trained to become effective peer mentors of undergraduate students, increasing both a sense of teamwork and overall productivity. New faculty members will benefit from actively seeking mentoring from more experienced colleagues who have successfully built student-based research programs.