Mentoring

Mentoring

The supervising faculty member has the responsibility to provide an appropriate training experience that helps to advance the career of the postdoctoral appointee. To aide in this process we have provided several resources.

  1. When a postdoc is up for reappointment, they will complete an annual Individual Development Plan Report that outlines research programs and plans as well as career development progress and plans. You should review this document with your postdoc and use it as a framework to discuss their progress and plans for the upcoming year.
  2. A useful guide for establishing a productive mentoring relationship between faculty and postdocs is the Postdoc Compact, provided by the American Association of Medical Colleges. Although originally written for postdocs at academic medical centers, the principles described in the Compact are applicable to faculty in many disciplines. The AAMC also released a guide to the Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees.
  3. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity has established a resource for mentoring international postdocs.

Mentoring Prize

To promote the importance of mentoring, the office of the Provost will award the Postdoctoral Mentoring Prize annually to a faculty member who exemplifies the role of a mentor and who has provided exceptional mentoring to one or more postdoctoral scholars during the previous year. Nominees are identified by current postdocs, as described in the prize announcement.

2023

Dr. Helena Rutherford, Associate Professor in the Child Study Center

Dr. John Carlson, Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology

2022

Dr. Dylan Ghee, Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry

Dr. Corey O’Hern, Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

2020

Dr. Patrick Lusk, Associate Professor of Cell Biology

Dr. Megan King, Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

2019

Dr. Valentina Greco, Professor of Genetics

Dr. Eduardo Groisman, Professor of Microbial Pathogensis

2018

Dr. Diane Krause, Professor of Laboratory Medicine, Cell Biology, and Pathology. Please click here to read more about the 2018 award recipient.

2017

Dr. Joann Sweasy,  Ensign Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Genetics.  Please click here to read more about the 2017 award recipient.

2016

Dr. Liza Comita, Assistant Professor of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.  Please click here to read more about the 2016 award recipient.

2015

Dr. Dieter Soll, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and Professor of Chemistry.  Please click here to read more about the 2015 award recipient. 

2014

Dr. Joan Steitz, Sterling Professor and Vice Chair of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry;  Investigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  Please click here to read more about the 214 award recipient.

2013

Dr. Robert Crabtree, Conkey P Whitehead Professor of Chemistry.  Please click here to read more about the 2013 award recipient. 

2012

Dr. Menachem Elimelech, Roberto Goizueta Professor Chemical & Environmental Engineering.  Please click here to read more about the 2012 award recipient. 

2011

Dr. Suzanne Alonzo, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Please click here to read more about the 2011 award recipient. 

2010

The winner of the University’s first Postdoctoral Mentoring Prize is Dr. Michael Caplan, C.N.H. Long Professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the Yale School of Medicine.  Please click here to read more about the 2010 award recipient.