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ABSTRACT
At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), statistical scientists develop solutions for a variety of national security challenges through scientific excellence, typically as members of interdisciplinary teams. At LANL, mentoring is actively encouraged and practiced to develop statistical skills and positive career-building behaviors. Mentoring activities targeted at different career phases from student to junior staff are an important catalyst for both short and long term career development. This article discusses mentoring strategies for undergraduate and graduate students through internships as well as for postdoctoral research associates and junior staff. Topics addressed include project selection, progress, and outcome; intellectual and social activities that complement the student internship experience; key skills/knowledge not typically obtained in academic training; and the impact of such internships on students’ careers. Experiences and strategies from a number of successful mentorships are presented. Feedback from former mentees obtained via a questionnaire is incorporated. These responses address some of the benefits the respondents received from mentoring, helpful contributions and advice from their mentors, key skills learned, and how mentoring impacted their later careers.
Acknowledgments
We thank C. C. Essix for her encouragement of this article. We also thank Harry Martz for the use of his publishing tips. We appreciate the contributions of the participants of our survey from which we drew quotes: S. Abney, Z. Ashton, S. Bhat, C. Bowen, S. Burke, E. Casleton, J. Chapman, D. Collins, A. Izraelevitz, E. Lawrence, D. Lin, L. Lu, D. Osthus, A. Pintar, K. Ryan, M. Skurikhin, and B. Weaver. Finally, we thank two anonymous referees whose insightful comments helped improve an earlier version of the article.