The goal of the award is to honor and acknowledge principal investigator (PI)s for excellent postdoctoral scholar mentoring, and to recognize both the value of quality mentoring and its impact on the career path of postdoctoral scholars. It will highlight the unique opportunities and challenges of mentoring postdoctoral scholars, who are poised to become the next generation of academic and scientific leaders. This award is seen as an effective way to spread the culture of awareness of the critical role the faculty play in academic/career development of postdoctoral scholars, and further, to recognize the importance of postdoctoral scholars to MIT’s mission.
Congratulations to the winners of the Mentoring Award 2024: Prof. Laura Lewis in the “Early Career Mentor” category and Prof. Jing Kong in the “Established Mentor” category. You can read the MIT News article here.
We plan to open nominations for next year’s award at the beginning of 2025.
Eligibility and Award Categories
Previous winners of the award will not be considered for the award this year. Nominations for all other PIs, including those who were nominated last year, are welcomed. Current MIT faculty, principal research scientists, and senior research scientists, who are in good standing at MIT, mentoring current postdoctoral scholars are eligible for the award.
This year, the award will have two categories:
- Early Career Mentor Award: Mentors with less than 8 years of postdoctoral mentoring experience will be considered for this category.
- Established Mentor Award: Mentors with 8 or more years of postdoctoral mentoring experience will be considered for this category.
Nomination Process
The primary nomination must be submitted by a current MIT postdoctoral scholar, who may organize supporting statements from additional current and former postdoctoral scholars. The nominating postdoc can write a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) highlighting different aspects from all supporting statements. We accept only one nomination for a PI and expect current postdoctoral scholars in the group to coordinate among themselves to submit only a single nomination. The nomination need not mention the category.
All current MIT faculty, principal research scientists, and senior research scientists, who are in good standing at MIT, mentoring current postdoctoral scholars are eligible for the award.
Criteria
The nominees will be reviewed based on demonstrated strengths in some or all of the following areas:
- Excellence in fostering and encouraging professional skills development and growth towards independence
- Ability to foster an inclusive work environment where postdoctoral mentees across a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives are empowered to engage in the mentee-mentor relationship
- Ability to support postdoctoral mentees in their pursuit of a chosen career path
- A commitment to a continued professional mentoring relationship with mentees, beyond the limit of the postdoctoral term
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact pda-alumni@mit.edu
Past winners
- 2022: Prof. Muriel Médard (MIT News Article)
- 2023: Prof. Jesse Kroll (MIT News Article)
- 2024: Prof. Laura Lewis (Early Career Mentor) and Prof. Jing Kong (Established Mentor)