I am passionate about mentoring undergraduates in research and am excited to be the faculty mentor for protégés from the Imperial Valley campus of SDSU. My goal as a faculty mentor of the F-SMP is to help my protégés learn about and fall in love with research, and to prepare them to continue doing research in graduate school and in their careers.

I believe it is essential for students to experience research firsthand not only to familiarize themselves with the process but to provide opportunities for personal accomplishments with research that can increase students’ self-efficacy for such work. Firsthand experiences demystify the research process for students and nurture curiosity that motivates them to pursue their own research. Research is both fun and rewarding: You get to answer your own question about a phenomenon you’re fascinated with and contribute to humankind by sharing the knowledge you’ve discovered with others.

Protégés will be required to complete the SDSU IRB online tutorial about research ethics to enhance their knowledge of proper research and respect for participants. Protégés’ learning about the process of research and professional growth will continue throughout the 2009-2010 academic year as I incorporate lessons about a variety of research topics into team meetings (e.g., statistical analyses, research design). I will meet with protégés once per week as a team; team meetings will last approximately two hours. Protégés will perform literature reviews, participate in data collection, and analyze data for their own projects.  Protégés will then submit an application to present the results of their study as a paper presentation at a regional conference of a pertinent professional organization. Correspondingly, protégés will submit an application to present their study at the 2010 SDSU Student Research Symposium in order to share their results with the SDSU community.

An issue near and dear to my heart that I work on with my protégés is graduate school. Sometimes undergraduates—especially those that are first-generation college students—are unfamiliar with the opportunities to continue their education, the post- baccalaureate requirements for various vocations, or how to prepare and apply for graduate school.  My protégés and I discuss the ins and outs of graduate school, and protégés write a statement of purpose that will receive my feedback as well as the feedback of other protégés in order to strengthen their work.

I am honored to be the mentor for SDSU-IV and look forward to the 2009-2010 year.