It Takes a Village to Train a Scientist.

Abstract

Training for a career as a scientist is a demanding process that requires guidance, critique, and motivation from many different sources. Even the most successful scientists have a village of mentors who help them continue to grow. At the start of my graduate training, I had the benefit of working with Sakthivel Sadayappan as he was establishing his first laboratory at Loyola University Chicago. As I was worrying about putting together my thesis committee, I was struck by Sakthi’s work assembling his own mentoring committee to support him as a young investigator. I remember wondering: at what stage does mentoring end? I have come to appreciate that thankfully it never truly does. Reflecting on my training through graduate school and my current postdoctoral fellowship, I recognize the indispensable contributions of a host of mentors who are willing to invest their time to help me succeed. Here, I want to share some of the roles played by these people and why they are invaluable to a developing scientist. One hard step in career development is choosing a PI to serve as your mentor. Realistically, it is unlikely that you will find a PI who perfectly meets all of your needs. That’s fine; finding additional mentors to …