Finding the contact information for Mentors

[crystalvejar13]

Hi, I am starting a project for next year and am looking for mentors. I made a letter and had a teacher look over it to make sure it was good. The only problem now is contacting the mentors. I have names of the authors of articles that were helpful to me and I would like to mail or email them my letter but I can not seem to find the contact information for some of them. I've only tried using google but for example, Ive been looking For Charles O'Neill who publishes a lot in the international Journal of Cancer but I can not find his information. The name O'Neill comes up with a lot of stuff on google but not his email or adress. Do you have any tips, websites or ways I could find the contact information? Thanks!

[amyc]

From the published articles you've read, do you know where the Charles O'Neill you are looking for teaches? I pretty quickly turned up one who is a researcher at Emory, for example. It sounds like you are looking for mentors "everywhere." Depending on the kind of mentorship you are looking for, you may want to make sure you focus some of your search on universities and institutions that are in your local area.

Generally if you know the school or institution at which the person works, you will be able to track down an email address. The school/institution should be available on the articles you have singled out.

Amy

[amyc]

This information may also be helpful to you:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tors.shtml

So, how do you find a mentor?

These are the steps Mary Lou O'Donnell's students take in order to find a mentor (these are also the same steps that some of my friends from Intel STS took). With a little modification, these steps can also be used to contact a mentor who is not nearby (do a phone interview instead of a meeting, and so forth). And, Ms. O'Donnell adds, "Advice for teachers: Students must find their own mentors! It's the only way they'll appreciate the mentor. This advice comes from many times when I've mentored kids and they come back complaining about my choice, the lab, etc. Mentors respond when contacted by motivated students, not by motivated teachers."

Determine your general areas of interest: physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, astronomy, etc.

Search nearby research university websites for scientists in the departments of these schools. Ms. O'Donnell states: "We steer our students to university professors. We have had private psychologists, doctors, and engineers work with students, but find that the level of research is usually not high enough." You want someone who is actively publishing research in his or her field, or in engineering, someone working directly on cutting-edge products or techniques in the area.

At the department webpage for the university, bring up the faculty biographies. Read through them all, noting the email addresses or contact information for those you are interested in.

Once you've gathered 20-30 professors' biographies, research them one by one. Prior to contact, you must find recent articles written by the potential mentor. This is extremely important. You don't want to look like an idiot when you contact him or her, and it will also help you determine if the person is involved in research that is similar to your project.

Draft a personalized email in which you identify yourself, your school, and identify specifically what interested you about the scientist's research. In the email, you should never directly ask "to be my mentor." Instead, you might want to mention that you are interested in doing research, in general. Request a meeting so you can speak more about his or her research. You might also ask him or her to distribute your request throughout the department if he or she cannot help you. One of his or her colleagues might be looking for a student with whom to do research. (This is actually how one of my friends from Intel STS got a mentor. The person she emailed was nice enough to send her request to others in the department, and someone else replied.)

Have someone proofread and edit the letter.

Mail it out and hope for the best. Note that you might go through numerous rejections until you find someone who wants to help you. Some of the people you contact might not even respond. When I emailed judges, there were always a few who never replied. Keep meeting and calling people! Eventually, you should be able to find a potential mentor. Often, the response to the email alone is only 33%-50%, so don't lose hope if only a few potential mentors reply. Positive responses range from less than 10% to as much as 33% (determined by asking a few fellow students involved in research).