How do I volunteer?
We welcome prospective mentors from any division or scientific institution, and encourage participation from all levels. You do not need to be nominated or have previous experience as a mentor. Our program is seeking to match protégés with mentors who are available and approachable, who have a desire and willingness to work with students, an ability to communicate, and a desire to benefit from the learning that comes through mentoring.

Once you have read the mentor descriptions and decided which type of mentor you would like to be, fill out a Mentor Information Form (Word) (PDF), and send the completed form to the SOARS Assistant by email or by mail (SOARS, CG2) by Friday, February 8, 2008 .

What are the summer program dates?
Protégés will arrive in Boulder by Tuesday, May 27, 2008 and will take part in leadership training and orientation for the remainder of the week. Protégés will begin working in their labs on Monday, June 2, 2008. The program concludes on Friday, August 8, 2008.

What is a project mentor?
The main role of a project mentor is to identify and structure a research project appropriate for a SOARS protégé for the summer. The project mentor and protégé collaborate to create a research plan, and work together to monitor progress and interpret results as the project progresses. The project mentor will host the protégé in her/his division or lab and is responsible for providing a workspace and computer for the protégé. On average, a project mentor spends about 10 hours per week with his or her protégé, discussing the project, guiding research practices, teaching processes and methods, and assisting the protégé in the creation of his or her research paper and presentation. > More info on structuring a project

What is a writing and communication mentor?
A writing and communication mentor offers one-on-one feedback to his or her protégé on written products and presentations during the summer. The writing and communication mentor supplements the instruction protégés receive in their weekly writing workshop (Protégés' Scientific Communications Workshop) and spends about 2 hours per week with the protégé, evaluating his or her writing, offering guidance, and making suggestions for improvement.

What is a community mentor?
A community mentor is assigned to first-year SOARS protégés. This mentor meets with his or her protégé regularly to help gauge stress levels, to provide moral support, to serve as a sounding board as the protégé works through his or her research project, and to help the protégé navigate the scientific community and acclimate to Boulder. Community mentors usually visit with protégés 1 hour per week, and often meet for lunches, hikes, shopping trips, or while engaging in a common interest or activity.

Who are SOARS protégés? What level of skills and experience can I expect?
SOARS is a multi-year program, and protégés are eligible to participate in as many as four summers. The participants during any summer range from undergraduate students completing their sophomore year to early graduate students and come from colleges and universities across the US and Puerto Rico. For this reason, each summer includes protégés from a wide range of backgrounds and with differing levels of experience.

The SOARS office can help mentors plan for the summer and become acquainted with your protégé. If you're a prospective project mentor planning or creating a project that requires a specific background, let us know what the project requires on the Mentor Information Form, and we'll do our best to match your project to an appropriate protégé. Once you've been paired with a protégé, the SOARS office can provide information about your protégé's technical and academic background and can supply copies of any past SOARS research papers.

Will there be any training for prospective mentors?
Yes! SOARS offers a mentor orientation and training in the spring for all mentors and offers additional training and meetings specific to each type of mentor throughout the summer. Our mentor trainings are structured to provide information about mentoring with the SOARS program and to encourage mentors to engage with and learn from each other.

In addition to this formal training, Raj Pandya, the SOARS director, is pleased to discuss mentoring strategies and techniques.

What do I need to do before my protégé arrives for the summer?
Here are some suggested activities for the time before your protégé arrives:

• Please review your travel schedule for the summer. Appoint a backup mentor, or create a backup plan, for times when you will be out of town.
• Review the Program Calendar to get a sense of the summer's events.
• Pencil in the date of your mentor orientation.
• After you have been paired with a protégé, contact students by email or phone to introduce yourself. Science research and writing mentors may consider forwarding relevant reading material and references before the summer begins.
• If you are a Project Mentor, contact your division or lab administrator to confirm that you will have a workspace and a PC for your protégé during the summer.

How are protégés and mentors paired?
Protégés and mentors are usually paired in March and April. Returning protégés are encouraged to select divisions, projects, or areas of interest to them. When possible, protégés are matched to mentors in their specified areas of interest. New protégés are matched with mentors by the SOARS steering committee. This committee, consisting of members from across UCAR/NCAR/UOP, tries to match mentors and protégés based on mutual interests and project skill requirements.

How are SOARS protégés selected?
Interested students submit applications to SOARS in late winter (see Selection Considerations for program eligibility requirements). Applications consist of an application form, essays, three letters of recommendation, and transcripts. A steering committee, made up of members from across UCAR/NCAR/UOP, evaluate the applicants and recommend new protégés.

How should I define the scope of a research project for a protégé?
As much as possible, pick a project where you can involve the protégé directly in formulating the underlying hypothesis that guides the research. If you can, include several procedures or techniques as part of the project. This has two benefits: increased learning opportunities and decreased risk that the project will fail when a single technique fails. In the spirit of risk mitigation, it is often useful to design a few alternate approaches.

Because summer research programs struggle with the limitations of time, a central measure of the suitability of a SOARS research project is the ability for a protégé to complete the project during the 10 weeks of the program.

In structuring and executing the project, experienced SOARS project mentors suggest working together with the protégé to define the project, mitigating time limitations by getting to the project quickly, and setting intermediate project goals to track progress.

If you have a returning protégé, it can be useful to consult with his or her previous project mentor in designing the project. For new protégés, the steering committee might be able to provide some guidance.

The SOARS office can also provide feedback about a prospective project. Don't hesitate to contact the SOARS director with any ideas or questions.

> Science Mentor Tips and Strategies

Where can I learn more about effective mentoring strategies?

• The Leadership Alliance has a succinct summary of recommended strategies for mentoring undergraduate students in science, available as a pdf. The Leadership Alliance is a consortium of 31 research and teaching academic institutions, dedicated to improving the participation of underserved and underrepresented students in graduate studies and Ph.D. programs. SOARS participates in alliance activities in partnership with CU.
• The American Physiological Society Career Mentoring Program has published guidelines for a successful mentor/mentee relationship. Guidelines for mentors.
• Guidelines for mentees. A discussion of these guidelines with your protégé might be a nice way to begin the summer.
• The NCAR Library has a collection of books that cover mentoring and the related topic of coaching. A list of these publications are available at http://www.fin.ucar.edu/hr/humancapital/mentoringbooks.html
• The SOARS Office can also provide additional help. Don't hesitate to contact SOARS director Raj Pandya if you'd like to discuss mentoring in more detail.

Mentor Information Form Download

I'd like to serve as a SOARS mentor, what do I do now?
You'll need to send a completed Mentor Information Form (Word) (PDF) to the SOARS Assistant by email or by mail (SOARS, CG2) by Friday, February 8, 2008 .