Geological Sciences Graduate Student Lindsay Olinde
"After the IE experience, I hope my intern feels more knowledgeable about opportunities but even more than that understands the importance of being engaged in one's professional path. My source in mentoring motivation is not unique-- I have been mentored by so many kind professionals that I can only pass those efforts forward.
I tailored the mentoring for both my interns based on where they are in classes and what they wanted to do in the next year or two. One of them is trying to switch majors into my field, geosciences. She had an interesting class in the topic but had very little experience outside that class. Together we decided that our main internship goal was gaining more natural science experience so that she could talk with employers about her interests and highlight them in a strong resume.
We built this "exploration experience" with both on-campus and off-campus events. I found her weekly departmental talks to go to and she'd write up summaries. I also helped her find volunteer opportunities in the Austin community so she could see geosciences outreach in action-- we worked with non-profits as well as City of Austin and Texas Parks and Wildlife. Additionally, I encouraged her to meet with faculty to talk about career interests so that she could be better connected with more professionals-- one of these conversations secured her a summer research job. I also helped my intern work with several other graduate students- -by helping them out she was able to get a variety of hands-on experiences, science in action.
Through her good work, she was hired by one of the researchers this semester. Because many undergraduates are not familiar with federal, state, and NSF Research-Experiences-for-Undergraduates opportunities, I also showed my intern how to look through difference agencies for summer work and she applied to several.
Many undergraduates also do not know that most science and engineering grad schools actually pay full expenses as well as pay students stipends- we talked extensively about graduate school options so we were able to debunk misconceptions on grad school and debt. Just this week, in wrapping up the semester, my intern has updated her resume and I am very impressed."