III. Essential Program Elements .
The Distributed Mentor Project consists of three primary structural elements: a research experience, a strong mentoring component with a female mentor, and immersion in a research university setting. In this section we discuss the ways in which these three elements worked to bring about the primary benefits of the program. Because all three of the elements interacted to produce the full set of program benefits, this discussion does not attempt to establish one-to-one correspondence between particular benefits and individual structural features. Rather we seek to portray the range of experiences which the participants were able to have because of each element and link these experiences more generally to the full set of benefits discussed in Section II. This section also addresses program implementation issues for each of the program elements.
A. Essential element #1: Mentoring experience.
The mentoring component of the program was an important element in most students' experience in the DMP, and many of the outcomes discussed in the previous section are associated with the interactions between the students and their mentors in an academic setting. In this section we first discuss the multiple roles that the mentors played in relation to their mentees. Then we discuss the participants' perspectives on the importance of having a female mentor. Finally, we address effective ways of facilitating the mentor-mentee relationship, as determined through analysis of participants' interviews.
1. Multi-dimensional role of the Mentor.
The mentor played a critical role both in facilitating a positive experience for the students during their participation in the program as well as through acting as a role model and a professional resource.
a. Orienting and helping students in their research project.
For many students in the DMP their project was their first experience with research. Therefore, they needed guidance in how to begin their project and how to work throughout the summer on solving their particular problem. Much like an advisor to a graduate student, the mentors acted as guides through the research process. Most of the student interviewees indicated that although their mentors gave them a certain amount of responsibility for their projects so that they could use their own resources and abilities, their mentors also gave them enough support that they did not feel completely lost. This allowed the students to test their own research abilities while still having the benefit of their mentors' experience. In the following quotes, students discussed this dynamic.
She gave me the project and basically told me the eventual goal of what I wanted to accomplish. And then, she basically let me start. And then I'd just come to her with questions. And if I asked her a question, she not only would answer that question, but kind of give me more advice about what I needed to do or say, "Oh this is something that you left out. You need to do this too." So she answered the questions I asked, basically, but she didn't try to [take over the project].
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R: I like [my project]. It's definitely interesting. It's something I've never done before. [My mentor] said, "Ok, I know nothing about it, but it looks ok and it might be a good idea. I think it will work, so why don't you try it?" And she gave me the book, and I sat down. She generally told me what she wanted. I mean, we were in constant contact because my little cubicle was a whole 25 feet from her office. It worked out very well.
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I: What did [your mentor] do in the mentoring program?
R: She did a lot. She basically sort of steered us or not really steered, but helped us get started in a big way. I mean she said "Well, you guys can choose whatever you want." Or, "If you have no idea, here are four ideas," you know? And, "You can pick one of these if you want." [The other DMP student] and I were like "Hmm, Ok." (laughs) And so she made sure that like we met with [another person on the research team] and she was like, "You know, it's a really good idea if you guys give talks." And so she didn't really sit down there and do the programming or anything, she just sort of directed us and sort of helped us do research.
b. Orienting students in the field of CS&E.
Some students discussed the value of having someone prepared and available to answer their questions and orient them about a career in CS&E. They looked upon their mentor as a reliable resource to address their questions about graduate school, research and academic life.
I mean that was just nice to have someone who expected the questions that you were going to ask you know, about grad school or about research, or about careers or whatever. So I mean she was really helpful both directing our research and talking to us about whatever we wanted to talk about GRE's or whatever.
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I: Now you're about three weeks into it. What is turning [out to be valuable to you]?
R: It's the mentor thing, because I can go and ask her anything. And it's great to be able to do that because she's done it and she's been through grad school and she's done this and she's searched through all them and she's done the job hunt. I mean, she's been through all of it. So if I have a question about it I can ask her, and she'll be able to answer.
Many students commented that their mentor introduced them to the culture of academia by giving them professional advice and direction.
R: I talked to her a couple times about grad school and what it's like to be a grad student or what it's like a professor or how you get in or explain the whole grant getting process, and that kind of thing.
I: You asked her to explain that?
R: Yeah. We had quite a few talks on the whole, how the research world works, stuff.
I: Was that important to you?
R: It was very helpful. I mean, I know a heck of a lot more about it now than I did then.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Actually, I mostly talked to [my mentor] trying to figure out what college to go to for grad school. She was firmly encouraging me to go to the one with the best name that I could get into, just because then you can get a job at a place with a better name and you have more choices.
2. Value of a female mentor.
The DMP is unique in that it provides mentoring experience for women by women. Therefore, we focus on the participants' perspectives about the significance of a female mentor, and the ways in which having a female mentor was an important factor in bringing about many of the benefits discussed in Section II.
a. Greater comfort with female mentor increased potential for benefit.
Many of the participants whom we interviewed expressed that they felt more comfortable with female professors than with male professors, and that as a result, they valued the fact that their mentors were female. The quotes below are indicative of this viewpoint.
R: Well I mean [working with a female mentor] stood out just because -- I mean especially in there in computer science, females definitely aren't the predominant factor. And it's not only a predominant factor because of that reason, but I mean I also like that they're all females because it's a more comfortable environment I think. And, you see that your mentor is a female in the computer field and, and I think you'd, at least I felt more at ease having a female mentor.
I: Why?
R: I don't know. Just a natural ease you feel with someone of your own sex.
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I: How important to you was it that [your mentor was] going to be a woman? What did that mean to you?
R: I liked that. I mean, not that I don't get along with male professors that I have or whatever. But it certainly opened more doors for bonding, or getting along better, or having more personal experience with that person, throughout the time that you worked with them.
In many cases this greater comfort with female mentors provided opportunities for important informal interactions which these women felt would not have been possible with a male professor.
R: ...I am glad that I had a female mentor because I think there are, she definitely, our [road trip] definitely was something that couldn't be, probably duplicated, you know, had a man been with me.
I: Why was that? Tell me about that.
R: Well I mean we talked about things. I mean I'm not necessarily comfortable -- I would probably be much more reserved with a man of that status and age. [Whereas on the car trip with my mentor] most of the time we didn't talk about academics. We went over a little bit of that just because it was necessary. But, you know, she talked about her family and talked about places to go or places she had lived. It was really very casual. You know, we [spent almost a long time together in the car]...and it was just like this outrageous trip that took like far longer than we'd expected it to take, but yet it was really, really good that we had that chance to talk and that experience. And, I don't think there's any point at which I would have been comfortable with a man in the car for that amount of time...I don't think I would have let my guard down if it had been a man.
A few mentors also commented that they were more comfortable advising or relating informally with female students. The quotes below illustrate this point.
I: Ok. Well, did you notice differences this summer in mentoring women as opposed to men?
R: I think that, you know, as much as I try to be fair to everyone, I think that I relate differently to women students that I'm advising. Sometimes it kind of bothers me that this happens, but I think I tend to not be on guard as much with women students. So I can kind of talk to them about a wider range of issues, whereas with male students I feel like I have to sort of be an authority figure, and kind of maintain a sort of fence between us. So in that sense it has been different, yeah.
Students offered many reasons for why being mentored by a female was more comfortable. This comfort allowed them to gain more from their mentoring experience.
1) Comfort discussing issues which are most relevant to women
Many of the participants discussed that they valued having a female mentor because it opened up the possibility that they could discuss issues which were most relevant to being women, such as balancing family and career and dealing with discrimination or harassment. Because the participants were engaged in a process of deciding what a career in CS would be like, having opportunities to discuss these critical issues was very important.
I: Ok. So what did it mean for you to have a female mentor?
R: A lot of it was just having someone to talk to about other things that were of concern, things like a career and a family and things like that. The work itself, it was just the work itself, and it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. But a lot of the work itself is worries about other things, and feeling comfortable being at work and doing this work when you know that there's stuff at home that, you know, getting comfortable with changing roles and things like that.
I: Why is that more comfortable for you with a woman?
R: Oh, because it's a completely different perspective for a man. Because if I want to have children I have to have the children. I mean, there is no choice. A man can have the choice of marrying a woman that wants to stay home and have children...It's a completely different perspective. I do, I think that women deal with things differently, and I think that they have different things that they have to deal with. I think for men it's the same thing. They have things that they have to deal with that women don't have to deal with, at least in society the way it is today.
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R: Why do I think all the mentors were women? I think it was to give us a female perspective. I don't know. Maybe I would have gotten along just as well with the male mentor. I don't know. I mean, I've never had any problems with my male professors, I think I could get a more accurate view of how I was going to go through life through a female mentor's experience. Does that make sense?
I: Meaning that you'll have similar experiences?
R: Right, and we had similar concerns. Some of the things males think -- like, especially if I want to have children, that's something most males don't consider as necessarily their responsibility, and it was something I knew if I wanted to have kids some day I had to approach and address. And I felt comfortable talking with her about that, and I don't think a male mentor I would have felt comfortable talking to that about.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I: Was it important to you that your mentor was female?
R: Yes. It wasn't important in that -- the academic stuff, the theory, and the math and stuff, it could have just as easily be a male, but I can't really ask a male professor, "So, have you encountered much sexism since you entered grad school?" No, I wouldn't really get the kind of answer I'm looking for, the truthful answer, or the answer that would be most relevant to me. But I asked her stuff like, "Did she encounter sexism? Did it help to be female when she was looking for a job?" That kind of thing.
2) Lack of fear that they would confirm negative stereotypes about women
In Section I, we discussed how many of the DMP participants expressed that they were often self-conscious about asking question or looking "stupid" in front of their male peers and professors. In contrast, they did not feel as fearful of being judged negatively by female professors. This may have been an important component of the DMP mentor-mentee relationships because, for some participants, it created the potential for a more honest flow of communication in which the mentee was free to ask basic questions that revealed the level of her current understanding with less fear of appearing "stupid."
In the following quote a participant discussed her relative lack of comfort with male professors because as a woman in CS she questioned whether or not they would believe in her abilities.
I've had to learn to relate with male professors. [But in the past], I had like a lot of stereotypes running around in my head. And it was as if they would be thinking -- like they would have a different idea of me than a female professor would...They wouldn't believe in me as much or believe in my ability.
In the following quote a DMP participant reflected on this issue in relation to her current work environment. She explained that at her programming job her supervisor was a woman, and that she felt much more comfortable asking her supervisor questions than asking her male colleagues, because of all the "stereotypes in society."
R: I guess deep down inside I am [concerned about the lack of females in CS&CE] because it always makes me feel good knowing that my boss is a woman and I can always go to her. And I feel much more comfortable asking her questions than anyone else. So that's my only concern although it's not a great one. But the lack of females is a little bit intimidating.
I: Why is it intimidating?
R: I don't know -- I wish I knew but I just, I know that I feel much more comfortable going in and asking [my supervisor] questions as opposed to some of the guys that I work with. I really wish I knew why, I don't have any reason why it might just be because of all the stereotypes in society today. I really don't know what the reason is.
One student who had attended an all women's school talked about her experience there and how empowering it was not to have to compete with men and to see so many women in positions of power.
I: You said that you find that you're less concerned about what others think of you through your experience at [a women's institution]. What was it about [this institution] that you think is producing that result?
R: First of all, it's just the, the focus at [this institution], as I'm sure it is in most institutions of higher learning, is more on academics, and not on, you know, who's wearing the best skirt today...And again, since it's an all women's school, the sense of empowerment for females, and not having to ever compete with males, just because they're not there -- confidence in yourself and, and in women in general, just comes naturally, just because women are doing all things.
I: And that's affected you then, you're saying.
R: Yeah, that naturally boosts my confidence in myself.
Her experience makes the point that when working in an all-female environment, the intimidation and the threat of confirming negative stereotypes about women is lessened -- allowing students to focus more on their work rather than on proving themselves. It is reasonable to assume that, to a lesser degree, a similar dynamic is set-up when female students are paired with female professors in a mentor-mentee relationship.
3) Lack of sexual tension
A few women explicitly discussed that one of the reasons they felt less comfortable with male professors was because they sometimes felt there was sexual tension or the possibility of sexual tension with male professors.
I: Why is it easier for you to do that with a woman than with a man?
R: Well, there's different levels of why that's easier. First of all, I really think, and I don't know if other people have the nerve to say this or whatever, but no matter what, I think that a male, there's always the thing that like, you're a woman and he's a man, and {pause} there's some sort of -- I certainly sometimes don't feel entirely comfortable, because you're this young woman and you might be attractive and here's this guy, and what if you're wearing something that's kind of cute, and you know what I mean? There's like, that kind of thing. And I really, I don't know. I mean you just can't talk about the same kinds of stuff, and there's always that issue of, like, that they look at you. I mean not all of them, but they could. You know what I mean?
I: Yeah, there's like this sexual attraction, or there's something --
R: Well I mean it might not even be attraction, it's just there. It may be there, and it may come out and it may not, but it's always like, there in the background -- a possibility...And I think that makes it hard to get into, certainly, I mean, like I can talk to a woman about {pause} questions and stuff, or
I: Like what sorts of things?
R: Like about my boyfriend, or relationships, or how hard to, what to do about, I don't know what sorts of things. Anything! Just sitting in a room talking to them comfortably is easier. About anything.
In the following quote, a woman expressed that it is easier for male students to build a rapport with male professors, because, among other things, there is no threat of sexual tension.
I: Why do you think the DMP was just for women?
R: Because I think when you're in competition with guys you don't always end up the winner even though you could do just as good a job. The measuring stick is skewed in their favor.
I: Why is that?
R: They definitely build a relationship with professors. It's tough when you're a woman because it's a little difficult going to talk to a professor. If a man's friendly to you, there's that sexual issue going on, so it can get uncomfortable. I'm not saying all the professors here at [my university] are letches, but it's definitely harder to build a rapport with a professor if they were male.
I: How -- because they are male they have different life experiences?
R: I don't know. The guys can just talk with male professors a lot better, and once you get talking, you get to know them. There's your recommendation letter, there's someone who can vouch for you, say, "Hey, take that student on. He's really good." If you don't build up a rapport with the professor and get that relationship going, it screws you down line.
b. More accurate role models: "If she can do it, I can do it too.".
Many of the participants whom we interviewed expressed that they felt that their mentors provided them with a role model for a successful woman in academic CS. They felt that the experiences of their female mentors was more likely to be representative of what they would face in graduate school and beyond, and found it valuable to have a chance to develop a relationship with their mentors. In the quotes below, participants discussed how having their mentors as role models and being able to interact with and observe them, boosted their confidence that they too could "make it." Some also came to have increased confidence that they could balance a career with family or other interests. (See also Section II.)
I: If you look over the past year, what stands out about your experience in the mentoring program?
R: I think it helped me a lot to be close to a woman. I think that was the major part of the mentoring program. I'm close to a lot of professors here in my department in my university, but somehow I haven't developed the same type of rapport as with [my mentor]. That was very important to me that I got to work with a woman, with a person of the same sex. I think more women need role models to pursue their goals. That was probably the thing that really stands out in my opinion.
I: How did working with [your mentor] help you?
R: Because I don't really see that many women in CS. I go to classes, and I'm the only woman, or maybe just another one with me sometimes. I feel sometimes left out. I don't know. That's why I feel it helped me to be with her. I saw it as a woman who achieved certain goals that I would like to achieve also, and I said, "Hey, she can do it, so I can do it too." We talked about these kinds of issues and how she felt a little bit intimidated sometimes when she was the only woman in classes or going to conferences and things like that. And if she was able to overcome that, I suppose I can also overcome it.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I: So what stands out about [your mentor]?
R: I think just working with her. I guess it's just in having the experience of working with a woman and it's just been such a great experience that she's just been a great role model and just seeing her with a family and seeing how well she's done in her field. I respected her very much.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I think one of the other things I was worried about was grad school because like from what I heard -- I mean if I think they're few women in my classes now, it's going to be even worse in graduate school because even a smaller percentage of women. And -- I don't know -- I guess it was just good to talk to a woman who's been there, been through graduate school you know, as a woman, and just can give me encouragement that it's not going to be terrible. I'm not going to feel like a Martian.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Well, that was the purpose of the program, was to help encourage women to go to grad school, to see these successful female mentors who hadn't been beaten down or anything and they were there, so if the women undergrads were having trouble then they would see that there was a mentor who had made it.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I think I really liked the fact that it was female mentors. It's sad but true that you really don't see that many women in computer science. I mean there are more now, but we just got our first woman faculty member at [my undergraduate institution] this year and that's been really neat. And so it was a chance to see how women balance computer science and families and. And just to see, maybe not your future, but what your future might be.
Some women could not identify with their mentors because they had "different priorities"
A few participants did not view their mentors as role models because they were unable to identify with them. They felt that their mentors had prioritized elements of their lives very differently than they themselves planned to. One of these women indicated that she wished she had been able to talk to her mentor about "future concerns" but that their differences made this impossible.
R: [When my mentor expected me to keep working all hours, I said,] "Well, you know, I do have other things I have to do!"...So you know, when it was time to go home, I went home. And I forgot about work -- I left it at work. And she just didn't think that was the best way to handle it.
I: Oh. How was she different, as far as how she dealt with her life?
R: Well, her life is her work...I mean, she gets up and she comes to school and she worked with us and did her own research, whatever she was working on, and she really had no outside obligations. So she just didn't understand that, there are other things that have to be done too...
I: So then I don't suppose you saw her really as a role model. Or how much did you see her as a role model?
R: I admire her dedication. I really do. [But I did not feel she was] much of a role model. I was hoping it would kind of be somebody that I would be able to, you know, talk to about stuff for the future. But, we're too different...It was uncomfortable, I guess, to talk about stuff like that, because we prioritize totally differently.
It is interesting to note that the student quoted above did not indicate in her interview that she had come to the conclusion that an academic CS career would not afford her the opportunity to have a family along with a career. This is important because it suggests that this student perceived her mentor's life as just one model for a woman in CS, not the only model.
3. Effective ways of facilitating and defining the relationship.
In this section we discuss ways in which the mentor-mentee relationship was successfully facilitated and defined. First we discuss the challenges presented by the structure of the Distributed Mentor Project, with regard to facilitating strong mentor-mentee relationships.
DMP attempts to create mentor-mentee relationships by matching based on technical interests and background
As one mentor discussed in her interview, most mentoring relationships naturally "spring up" in a setting where the mentor and the mentee happen to be working together.
I: So how would you define mentoring?
R: I guess it's a relationship that springs up, often informally, sometimes formally, [where people are] paired up, in which a more experienced person in a field takes a less experienced person under their wing, and kind of looks after them, both technically and otherwise.
I: That's interesting that you say that, you started to say that it tends to spring up. What do you think about the aspect of this program, that it is more formalized? That it's an attempt to make, a match is made, and it's set up before you know this person?
R: Well, I guess there are lots of different, in my own career there are lots of different things on which I've wanted mentoring. And it's very difficult for me to imagine one person being able to do all of that. I think that this program does a pretty good job of making a technical mentoring match, and then hopes that the rest can happen. So I think it's impossible to find perfectly compatible people via a paper application process.
I: But you think it serves a strong purpose in the sense of the technical mentoring?
R: Yeah, and I think that's the most useful thing. Because I think that if the technical match were bad, then I don't think the rest of the advice that I would give would really click. You know?
The DMP mentoring situation differs from the traditional description of "natural" or "informal" mentoring relationships in that it attempts to create mentor-mentee relationships through pairing mentors and students based on research interests and background. However, because this program pairs female students with female professors there is greater potential for a true "mentoring" relationship to "spring up." This is due to the greater degree of comfort that these women felt with female faculty members.
Creating a successful mentoring relationship was challenging, particularly given the time constraints of the program. Through analysis of both the positive and negative experiences students had with their mentors, we have found that the positive relationships were more often characterized by the types of interactions that are discussed below. These interactions helped facilitate the growth of a more personal or informal relationship with their student. Our analysis of data from participants in the three program years corroborated the findings presented in the January, 1996 report and provides further illumination on these findings.
a. Importance of the mentor defining the working relationship.
Most students expressed that they knew what their mentor expected of them and were able to function within that framework. However, a few students felt unclear about the protocol for interacting with their mentor or didn't feel that they had an understanding of their mentor's expectations. It appears that generally, in the successful mentoring relationships, it was the mentor who laid the groundwork and established clear expectations. This was important because the students viewed their mentors as authority figures and were uncomfortable, at least initially, with approaching her with questions and concerns. A number of these students lacked confidence about their skills and abilities, and were reluctant to initiate interactions and discussions with the mentor. As a result, the students placed the responsibility on the mentor for defining the nature and frequency of interactions during the program. Thus, the mentor can reduce her student's anxiety about their interactions, both professional and social, by defining when and how often they meet, what was expected of them in these meetings, and the times at which the mentor would be available for questions (outside of the regular meetings).
b. Types of interactions.
1) Importance of formal and informal interactions focused on research
Most students and mentors found it helpful to have some formal research meetings arranged either at a regular weekly time or as was convenient. This provided a structure which gave the student a sense of accountability. It also provided the security that there would be a time to talk over important issues or problems that the student had encountered in their research.
Some mentors chose to meet frequently with their students about the research, most often on an informal basis. These mentors tended to spend more time with the students. This type of interaction was also quite beneficial.
In cases where the mentors did not establish regular meetings and did not initiate frequent informal interactions, the student often felt that their mentor either was not available or was not a good resource. When students felt that they didn't have much contact with their mentor, they were disappointed with the program and questioned the value of the mentoring aspect of the program. In fact, when students perceived their mentor as too busy to meet with them, many felt as if their presence, rather than being helpful, was more of a distraction.
2) Importance of informal, social activities -- developing a more personal relationship
Although formal meetings between mentors and mentees seemed to be a good avenue for discussing research-related issues, informal, social activities seemed to provide the best opportunity for developing a more comfortable, personal relationship. Students indicated in their interviews that informal time spent either traveling, dining, or simply chatting in the office with their mentors often lead to discussions about more personal issues, such as balancing family and career or learning about the mentor's life and career choices. These types of interactions were viewed as quite valuable to the students. They gave them a fuller understanding of their mentor's lives. They were able to draw upon their mentors' experiences in order to more fully understand their options and what was important to them. These interactions also helped the students develop stronger connections with their mentors.
Mentor interviewees also discussed this issue. In the following quote, a mentor discussed that when she went to lunch with a student or went hiking with her students, it was much more natural to discuss personal issues that would be relevant to her mentees' career decisions.
R: I took her out to the mountains one day...A lot of the stuff came up when [my mentee] and I went up to [the mountains and] did a hike...Because it's really beautiful and she got to take lots of pictures,
I: What sort of stuff came up?
R: Family. You know, "How do you manage a family? What do you do with kids? How do you manage a career? What's this thing about tenure?" You know, when you're in a car for [a long time] with somebody one way, and you're hanging out, it's just easier to pop these questions that they're bringing up. And so I highly recommend that...[These more personal issues] sort of came up naturally, so while you're asking sort of more like personal life stuff and boyfriends and stuff just sort of kind of drifts in there. You know, a lot more naturally than it would while you were giving them orientation and you're talking about [research]...
c. Shared mentoring positive for some: importance of accurate expectations and clear roles.
Some mentors decided to mentor their student along with another faculty member or along with a graduate student. In some of these cases, the students felt that they had an additional resource in the other mentor.
In other cases, the students felt disappointed that they did not have enough contact with their mentors. These students had come into the program expecting a close relationship that would include daily contact with their mentor. However, when they arrived, they found that they would be working more closely with a graduate student. The mismatch between their expectations and the reality caused these women to feel some disappointment in their relationship with their mentor.
The two 1996 participants quoted below described such an experience. They indicated that one of the reasons they were disappointed that their mentors were not working closely with them was that they had wanted their mentors to become familiar with their capabilities so that they could provide a strong and accurate letter of recommendation.
I wanted more attention. And I suppose [it might had been different] if it had been from the start made clear that I was going to be [working more closely with someone else]...[But as it was] I kind of felt like s/he wasn't the one I was really supposed to be learning from, and s/he wasn't the one who can write me a good recommendation, and s/he wasn't the one, you know what I mean? So just to have me working with him/her, wasn't entirely the same kind of benefits for me.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I got a little peeved midway through the summer because if my connections or acquaintances this summer were going to help me in the future, I was going to need recommendations. The only person that people would respect recommendations from was my mentor and I felt very strongly that she really didn't know how my summer was going at all. She didn't see me in there from eight till five, or you know, working as hard as I was and it really was distressing to me that none of this was being seen by anyone that could, you know, convey that to anyone else.
It is quite possible that had these students had a more accurate view of the type of contact they would have had with their mentors, they would not have experienced disappointment.
d. Importance of shared goals between mentor and student.
It became clear through our analysis that in some cases, the mentor's and the student's goals for the DMP differed somewhat and that these differences were a source of dissatisfaction on the part of the students and the mentors. In particular, some students who viewed the program as a chance to gain a research opportunity in addition to gaining a sense of graduate school life, had mentors whose primarily goal was to have the student produce high level, publishable research during the program. This lack of agreement on goals caused both the mentors and the mentees to become frustrated with the program; this frustration hampered their ability to relate comfortably and build an effective mentoring relationship. See more about this in Section III.B.2.
B. Essential element #2: Research project .
In this section we discuss the function of the research project in the DMP; the role it plays in fostering many of the program benefits. We also address important implementation issues which created variance in the level of effectiveness of the research process.
1. Primary vehicle through which participants become "honorary graduate students" and "try CS on for size".
Of all of the structural features of the DMP, the research project is in many ways the most crucial because it acts as a vehicle allowing the participants to become immersed in the academic CS environment. It is through their ability to have a role in academic research that the participants became "honorary graduate students."
a. A meaningful role in research provides students with an entree into CS academia .
The research project provided students with a meaningful role in the academic environment, allowing them a unique type of access to faculty members and graduate students. As undergraduates, students typically interact with professors and graduate students in a classroom-based, student-instructor relationship. The DMP research project allowed the participants to take on the role of "honorary graduate students," and gain entrance into the research aspect of academia. The following quote illustrates this process.
I: You said that it was something you wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Which part were you talking about?
R: To get a chance to see what the work is like, to get a chance to work in that environment, not as much just as a student. Because up until now, I've just been sort of a student, and so you're more separated from what goes on at the research end of it, and what the faculty's doing and stuff like that. It's an experience I couldn't have gotten just by taking classes or something. So.
I: Yeah, how did it feel to be included in that?
R: Nice. I liked it. It was really nice. And the faculty was -- all of them, not just my mentor, but all of them -- were really supportive.
Research project created a dynamic of "mentoring in context"
Many formal mentoring initiatives involve structured interactions between mentors and mentees without a component that involves a shared research project. The DMP is somewhat unique because it combines mentoring with work on a research project. Analysis of student and mentor interviews indicates that this combination is a primary strength of the DMP. The relationship between the mentor and the mentee is fostered through this pursuit of a common goal. This often allowed a more informal mentoring process to emerge and develop. The following quote from a mentor illustrates that through working closely with her mentee on a research project, informal conversations about important non-research issues emerged.
...I kind of found opportunities to talk about something that would be worth talking about and often I just worked it into casual morning conversation over coffee. You know just sort of chatting and then sort of... so it wasn't sort of in your face mentoring. "Today's lesson is on" ... It was more a matter of talking about some things that were going on with me and how that kind of related to life in academia in general and stuff like that. So in some sense in terms of the role this summer I'm sort of feeling like the mentoring.. what I was trying to do is to convey to [my student] a little bit about what academic life is all about in addition to sort of working with the research project. So you know sometimes I would focus on the research and a lot of times I would just talk about other issues more in terms of my life to sort of expose her to.
Research project allowed students to gain access to graduate students: see their lives from the inside -- not just as their instructors
Most participants indicated that prior to the DMP, they had only interacted with graduate students in a classroom-based, student-instructor relationship, and that these interactions had not given them any sense of what graduate school involved. Through their work on their research project these students were able to have new kinds of interactions with graduate students: interactions which helped the participants learn about graduate school and about whether or not it was right for them. Through either working jointly with graduate students on their research projects or simply sharing an office with them, the participants took on the status of "honorary graduate students." Thus, rather than being viewed as undergraduates who were more "separate" or different from them, they were included in both academic and social activities.
I: Ok. How much do you think your impressions of graduate school changed? I mean did you know much about graduate school before you went to the program?
R: I don't think they changed that much. Because I knew the graduate students at our school although it's different because there's not as much opportunity for outside jobs here...But I think these [graduate students] seemed more excited, than at my [home institution]. I mean maybe the students at my school are, but I just don't see it because they don't show it to me, because they think I'm just an undergraduate or something. Whereas these students were like, "Hey, let's go out and do this." ...Just like, everybody's always talking and social, and stuff like that.
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...being with the grad students directly gave me a better view of them and what they do, as opposed to just seeing them as TA's. 'Cause TA's are like, they're always complaining about all the work that they have to do, and I don't see them excited about their projects. So I saw them in a different light than I get to see around here [at my home institution].
The importance of these new types of interactions with graduate students is discussed further in Section III.C.
Research project fostered collegial interactions with other CS academics and professionals
In addition to providing access to mentors and graduate students, many students discussed that they were able to interact with other professors or individuals from industry through their research projects. The significance of these interactions is discussed in Essential Elements: Research University Setting. These interactions were important because they allowed students more opportunities to learn about the field and to experience, in a limited way, being a contributing member of the CS academic community.
b. Being engaged in the research process itself allowed participants a unique opportunity to apply their knowledge in a non-classroom setting .
As we discussed in the both Sections I ("Context") and II ("Impact"), many of the women in the DMP indicated that prior to the program they had never been involved in "real research." The DMP research project provided them a unique opportunity to engage in an open-ended research process. This was a crucial aspect of being able to "try CS academia on for size," and brought about many of the program benefits discussed in Section II. The two most important functions of the research project are discussed below.
1) The research project involved students in a self-directed, exploratory process in which they had to apply their knowledge
Most of the DMP research projects were considered "real research" in that they were open-ended and did not have a clearly defined solution. In most cases the students perceived that although the mentors had ideas about how to solve the problems, the mentors did not have one "best solution" in mind. Most students were given a significant amount of responsibility for working independently and generating solutions to their problems. Most students described their projects as challenging and felt that they needed to apply their knowledge to a new situation in which procedures were unclear and they had to "figure out" how to solve the problem. They indicated that this differed considerably from their classroom experiences, in which both problems and potential solutions were more clearly defined. The following quotes illustrate the nature of most of the students' research processes.
I expected it to feel like I had a bunch of homework. Especially to feel like I was sort of in school, just not going to class, and I had a bunch of homework to turn in. But it wasn't like that at all. I was much more of an equal with [my mentor]. Instead of going and having her tell me to do something and I'd go home and do it, I'd go, and she'd tell me about a problem -- sort of an open problem or a problem that is very hard. So she wanted to generate some test cases to look at them to see if there's any trend that she might be able to use to figure out or conjecture about a problem or something. I thought that was really neat. I like to program, so I'd just go program these things and do them, and it was fun. I'd come back and say, "This is what I did. This is how I did it, and everything."
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It was really a change I think for both of us because usually when you're in a class or something they say, "Write a program that multiplies x, y, z." They don't have a set way that you should do it, but they're trying to teach you something. Or, this program has been written before, but what we were writing had never been written before and that was a really new experience for both of us.
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Here what I'm doing is just like pretty much my own thing. You come here, they say, "Ok, this is what you have to do here, it's a bunch of reading material -- just read it and do it." And it's just for you [to do], and you have to solve problems yourself pretty much. When you're in school, they take you by your hand, and they tell you, "Ok, read the lesson dah-dah-dah-dah-dah, and do this thing," and they teach you everything. Here you're on your own. I had to learn a new system on my own. Nobody taught me. I had to figure out how to program in it and stuff, ... and that's very good practice.
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R: Being in a research environment really is a lot different from going to classes every day and doing homework.
I: And how is that different?
R: You don't have a set assignment. You have work that you're doing, and you're kind of on your own, and you're trying to figure things out. And your homework is just kind of like, "You have to read this." Or, "Finish this assignment." So it's a lot different way of studying, I think. It was fun...[I liked the] freedom to do your own thing. I mean, you were on your own to do research, in general. Whatever you wanted to do was what you were able to do. You're like your own teacher, kind of. Everything you learned, you did on your own.
For many students this transition from a classroom learning style to an open-ended research process was a difficult one at first, but many participants indicated that by the end of the summer they were more comfortable with this new style of learning and working.
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