This workshop identifies and expands on the significance of students serving simultaneously as mentors and mentees.

Marcela Ortiz and Dr. Jessica Spott will discuss the advantages, benefits, and findings shown when undergraduates serve in a mentor role with STEM projects in public schools with underrepresented students. Examples will include out-of-school projects run by STEM CORE (STEM Center for Outreach, Research & Education) at Texas Tech University, a program that uses mentoring as an opportunity to increase early career development self-efficacy and provide guidance for launching similar programs at other institutions.

Dr. Emily Fischer will introduce PROmoting Geoscience Research, Education, and SuccesS (PROGRESS), an NSF-IUSE supported mentoring program aimed at supporting college women interested in the earth and environmental sciences. She will explain how faculty members work with their students to build individualized mentor maps, helping students identify local community members who already support them and brainstorm on how to approach new mentors. Dr. Fischer will also demonstrate how to implement this support ecosystem mapping exercise in other communities and at different institutions.