Education is more than classes and it is more than experiences. Education should include developing a relationship with a mentor--someone who will take an interest in the student and guide him or her to the next steps in achieving his/her goals. UBRP students benefit from the extraordinary support and guidance of a great many individuals and it is important to recognize that.  This year, for the first time, the Outstanding UBRP Graduate Student (or Postdoc) and Outstanding UBRP Faculty Mentor awards were made. 

The Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor  named this year was Sara Burke.  Sarah is a doctoral student in Neural Systems, Memory and Aging, and she was nominated by UBRP alum and current NSMA doctoral student, Zaneta Navratilova '06, and current UBRP students Saman Nematollahi and Ajay Uprety. 

The Outstanding UBRP Faculty Mentor selected this year was Dr. John Szivek , Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. Chris Geffre '06, UBRP alum and current MD/PhD student at UA, nominated Dr. Szivek for this recognition.  Dr. Szivek made the following comments in accepting the award:

When I was a graduate student I had a wonderful supervisor who I thought of as a friend rather than a mentor. So when I heard that I was going to receive this award I was surprised but also a little concerned that I didn't really know what a good mentor was.

As a researcher my first instinct was to find out the qualifications and duties of a good mentor and the history of mentorship.  It turns out that in Greek Mythology Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who Odysseus left in charge of his young son when he went off to fight the Trojan War. The concept of a mentorship was first described in a French 17th century novel about Odysseus's son who was visited by Athena (Goddess of Wisdom) disguised as Mentor. She encouraged the boy to stop his mother from marrying again and to have the courage to go abroad exploring to find his father. He was afraid he didn't have the skills but through some magic she helped him believe in himself. This gave him the courage to go and search.

So from this background it seems a Mentor's job is a supporting role of encouragement to guide students to explore and solve the problems that the world throws at them.  My past students have come to me with student loan problems; class scheduling problems, crazy roommate problems, family problems as well as the problems they encounter with their research. I often have wished I had magic powers to help them. But, I have come to realize that these students are all smart, able people and each is the best person to solve his or her own problems. All I have to do is make sure they believe in themselves. This is one thing my supervisor did teach me how to do.  He also taught me that science is exciting, and that experiments never work the first time, or the second time or sometimes even the third time. But as I have told my students, research comes from the word search (that's the first time) and then we re-search (that's is the second, third and fourth time). All you need is the courage not to give up and you will find what you are searching for.

I want to thank Carol (who I often think of as a modern day Athena) for giving me the opportunity to work with all the gifted students in this program, which is certainly one of the best mentoring programs in the country and all of you students for teaching me how become a better mentor.

Honorable Mention

Others recognized at the conference for their outstanding dedication to mentor UBRP students included graduate students Joseph Boyd (nominated by UBRP student Miranda Gray), and Nichole Cudworth (nominated by UBRP student Liz Baker);  and faculty mentors Dr. Emmanuel Akiporiaye (nominated by UBRP Alum Mikhal Gold '07), Dr. Tsu-Shuen Tsao (nominated by UBRP student Sarah Edwards), Dr. F. Ann Walker (nominated by UBRP alum Maxim Shokhirev '08), Dr. S. Patricia Stock (nominated by UBRP student Rousel Orozco), Dr. Kobus Barnard (nominated by UBRP alum Kate Spriggs '07), Dr. Roger Miesfeld (nominated by UBRP student Brianna Kolody), and Dr. John Koprowski (nominated by UBRP student Liz Baker).