Dear PhDs: Your Undergraduate Research Assistant Is Not Your “Assistant”
I wasn’t ready to be called a “mentor”. I was a first-year, first-gen grad student, and as told by a faculty member was “a little too shy.” I was very nervous before my first meeting with the student who was assigned to work as my research assistant (RA). I wanted to make sure that my RA got a great research experience but didn’t know exactly how to do it.
Over the past 5 years, I’ve worked with many undergraduate students, and some of the best experiences I’ve had at Cornell have been my collaborations with students.
Here is a list of 8 things I’ve learned along the way that I believe would be helpful to new PhDs or anyone who is interested in mentoring junior researchers. I admit that I didn’t get to do all of these for all of my students, but I hope these points give you some ideas as you work on your own mentorship process.
1. See and treat them as collaborators, not “assistants”.
The word “assistant” in the title research assistant sometimes leads to PhDs treating their RAs as someone who is there to just assist with research work. Giving your RAs only trivial tasks such as notetaking and proofreading is not a great idea. See them as collaborators who have less experience than you do. Give them the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways that benefit both of you.
2. Communicate often and ask about their expectations early on.
Early in the process, you need to have a conversation around learnings and academic expectations. Few PhDs ask their mentees about their goals. Remember that it’s ok if they only have a vague idea of what they hope to achieve. You can revisit this together later on.
3. Be flexible.
A good mentor is flexible. Your RA might lose interest in your project for reasons that are not obvious to you. Talk to them and try to address their concerns. Most of the time there is a mismatch between what they hope to get out of the experience and the task at hand. If you have multiple active projects, let them switch to a new one. If you don’t, let your advisor know that your project is not a good match for the RA and ask the advisor to reassign them if possible.
4. Be a supportive mentor.
As a Ph.D. student, you can support your RAs in many ways beyond research. Some of my best conversations with my RAs were those where we talked about grad school and Ph.D. life. Dedicate 5 to 10 minutes at the beginning and the end of each meeting to informal chats and answering questions they might have about grad school, the job market, or anything else.
5. Be open to learning from them.
Always be open to learning from your RAs. You are the lead on the project but be open to the ideas and suggestions they might have. In grad school, we sometimes get too focused on a particular idea, and it is very helpful to have open discussions with others. Consider organizing workshops focused on solving specific research problems or schedule brainstorming sessions with your RAs regularly.
6. Invite them to the meeting with your advisor.
If they are interested in getting involved with a research project, give them the opportunity. For those who are considering grad school as their next step, joining your meeting with your faculty advisor is a great experience. You can also give them time to share their work during the larger lab (research group) meetings.
7. Help them figure out what they need to learn.
Some students have a clear idea of what skills they want to learn, and some don’t. As a Ph.D. student, you need to be open to dedicate some time to explore the necessary skills for their desired career path. Another thing you can do is introducing them to other PhDs who might be able to answer their career-specific questions.
8. Write recommendation letters early.
A good recommendation letter is one that’s detailed and clear. Write the letters early on before you forget all the good examples of their hard work, creative moments, and awesome collaboration skills. LinkedIn recommendations are becoming more and more common so be ready to give them a LinkedIn letter if they prefer that.
Every time I talk to someone about their mentorship style I learn something new and insightful! I love talking to people about their best mentor-mentee experience. If you’d like to chat more about this topic, Ph.D. life, or UX research, message me on LinkedIn or comment here.
