Nance Lab
Disease-Directed Engineering
Training & Mentoring in the Nance lab
This page is under construction. The Nance lab has been home for formal training for 95 students (23 graduate students, 57 undergraduates, 3 research staff, and 12 high school). Trainees in the Nance lab have received a combined 67 research scholarships and fellowships! Learn more about our mentoring and training philosophy and approach below. To learn more about where lab alumni currently are, check out our alumni page!
Lab Policies and Practices
Our people are at the core of what makes our lab a unique and fulfilling place to work, with each member contributing their unique skills and experiences to our projects. Our lab is a team and community, and everyone is a respected, valued, and critical member. This requires a safe workspace, open communication, and individual commitment to work smart, build resiliency, be willing to fail, work together, and support each other. We seek individuals who are community-oriented, creative, motivated, passionate, and compassionate. The success of our group and each individual grows from our collective and individual efforts to embrace a growth mindset, to support one another, and to do our best, highest quality work to effectively tackle complex problems in health and medicine. Mentoring is an area of continuous improvement, and as an avid reader, Prof. Nance continues to seek resources to improve and modify lab mentoring to meet the evolving generational, temporal, and individual needs of trainees in the lab.
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Prof. Nance's mentoring approach in the lab focuses on creating accessible processes and systems adaptable to the individual: (1) there are multiple informal and formal mechanisms for direct feedback and regular communication, regardless of the training level, as well as dedicated time in lab meetings to discuss safety, accessibility, support, and mental health topics, and challenges/opportunities faced in the lab; (2) we always work to be transparent and clear in expectation setting for all lab members through a yearly vision meeting with the entire team, a regularly updated lab policies and procedures document, and documentation of best practices, protocols, templates, and resources in a shared online lab resource. To embrace the ,mindset of living practice, the lab policies and practices document is open for an edit phase every August, for all lab members to comment, clarify, and suggest changes.
PhD and Postdoc Mentoring Resources
To support the success of PhD and Postdoc trainees in the group, lab members take part in a mentoring plan that consists of two parts that can be adapted to each student's needs throughout their training:
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Mentor-Mentee relationship document: This worksheet is filled out separately by the mentor and mentee at 3 points in their training: upon joining the lab, after the preliminary exam (department requirement, beginning of year 2 for us), and after the general exam (grad school requirement, end of year 3 for us). The purpose is to establish expectations between mentor and mentee regarding student ownership of their thesis project. Mentor and mentee can meet and discuss the rationale for their scores, and resolve any discrepancies before the student begins their thesis research, and at each transition point during their degree. The language has been adapted from the original format to better fit training milestones and training aspects for our PhD students (e.g. distinguishing paper related things from thesis related things).
PDF of Expectation Matrix
Mentoring IDP Worksheet: We perform IDP assessments once a year. The trainee will fill out the IDP worksheet. Prof. Nance reviews it and takes notes, then will meet individually to discuss the worksheet with each trainee focusing on 1) planning the following year of research, 2) touching base on each mentee’s career plans, 3) discussing areas of improvement for mentee scientific research and career development progress, and 4) discussing mentoring gaps and areas of lab & mentor improvement to facilitate above-discussed goals, including Dr. Nance as PI and our lab can perform better to facilitate development. After the meeting, Dr. Nance sends a summary of short term (next 3-4 months) and near-term (next year) goals discussed and any action items for Dr. Nance and the student to be taken in the next 3-4 months to facilitate those goals. After all IDP meetings are complete, Dr. Nance will also summarize lab related feedback (anonymously) and share with the entire group our proposed changes and timeline based on that feedback.
PDF of Mentoring Worksheet
Undergraduate Mentoring
Details and info to be added!