Mentoring

My commitment to mentoring primarily stems from my experiences as the first in my family to pursue an engineering degree and earn a PhD. 

The lack of representation in engineering, particularly in aerospace, often results from a "feedback loop", as people from underrepresented backgrounds or who are the first in their family to pursue this career path may lack the guidance and opportunities to be as successful as their equally qualified peers. I am committed to changing this by helping worthy students from all backgrounds succeed in aerospace engineering and broadly in higher education.

As a result of my interest in mentoring, I have collected resources for students and recent graduates, including scholarships, fellowships, workshops, and awards, which are listed below. If you find any of these resources useful, remember to pay it forward by sharing them with someone else! 

General

• Best practices for emailing a potential graduate school advisor

• Virtual workshop about applying for and choosing Ph.D. programs

• Best practices for reading scientific papers (e.g., of potential advisors)

• A book about navigating the transition to graduate school

Scholarships and Awards

• AbbVie Immunology Scholarship

• AIAA Foundation Scholarships

• DOD SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program

• GT AE Database of Student Funding Opportunities

• GT Database of Undergraduate Student Funding Opportunities

• GT President's Undergraduate Research Awards

• Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar Program

• Pathways to Science List of Funding Opportunities

• SIAM Conference Travel and Registration Support

• Vertical Flight Foundation Scholarships

Professional Development Programs

• AIAA Rising Stars in Aerospace Program

• GT Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering

• Stanford Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

General

• Best practices for emailing a potential graduate school advisor

• Virtual workshop about applying for and choosing Ph.D. programs

• Best practices for reading scientific papers (e.g., of potential advisors)

• A book about navigating the transition to graduate school

Fellowships and Awards

• AbbVie Immunology Scholarship

• AIAA Foundation Fellowships

• Amelia Earhart Fellowship Program

• American Association of University Women Fellowships

• Caltech Database of Fellowships in STEM

• Caltech Database of Fellowships for Women

• Caltech Database of Fellowships for Underrepresented Groups

• DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship

  • Examples of successful applications

• DOD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program

  • Advice on applying to NDSEG vs. GRFP

  • Walk through an NDSEG application

• DOD SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program

• GEM Fellowship Program

• GT AE Database of Student Funding Opportunities 

• GT Database of Graduate Student Fellowships

• Hertz Foundation Fellowship

• Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar Program

• Johns Hopkins Database of Graduate Student Funding Opportunities

• NASA NSTGRO Program

• National Academies List of Graduate Student Funding Opportunities

• National Academies List of Graduate Student Funding Opportunities (continues)

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

  • Website with GRFP advice

  • Examples of successful essays

• NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program

• Pathways to Science List of Funding Opportunities

• PD Soros Fellowship

• Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Grant

• U-M Database of Graduate Student Funding Opportunities 

• Vertical Flight Foundation Scholarships

Professional Development Programs

• SIAM Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling Camp 

See also the summer research opportunities and opportunities for academic career development.

General

• Best practices for emailing a potential postdoc advisor

• Best practices for reading scientific papers 

Fellowships and Awards

• American Association of University Women Fellowships

• Johns Hopkins Database of Early Career Researchers Funding Opportunities

• GT AE Postdoc Fellowship Program

• GT President's Postdoc Program

• NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships

• Pathways to Science List of Funding Opportunities

• Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Grant

• UCSD Database of Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities

• U-M Database of Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities 

Professional Development 

See the opportunities for academic career development.

General

• AFRL Scholars Program

• Army Educational Outreach Program

• NASA Internship Programs

• Sandia Nonlinear Mechanics and Dynamics Research Institute

For Undergraduate and Early-Stage Graduate Students 

• Los Alamos Dynamics Summer School

General

• Virtual workshop about applying for and transitioning to faculty positions

• Best practices for applying for faculty positions in the U.S. and Canada 

• A book about applying for faculty positions in STEM

• My Twitter thread on resources to apply for faculty positions

Workshops for Rising and Early-Stage Graduate Students

• NextProf Workshops (Pathfinder)

Workshops for Senior Graduate Students and Postdocs

• Black Trailblazers in Engineering

• Building Future Faculty Program

• Collection of Future Faculty Workshops

• Future Faculty Diversity Program

• Future Faculty In Engineering Workshop

• New England Future Faculty Workshop

• NextProf Workshops (Engineering and Nexus)

• Future Leaders in Aerospace (previously Women in Aerospace Symposium)

• Rising Stars in Computational and Data Sciences

• Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering

• U-M Preparing Future Faculty

• Young Investigator Lecture Series 

The Awesomest 7-year Postdoc

Radhika Nagpal—Professor of Computer Science at Harvard—shares how she survived the tenure-track experience by considering it a "seven-year postdoc." A must-read for anybody considering an academic career, especially if a member of an underrepresented group.

How to Use Your V.O.I.C.E to Accomplish Your Goals 

A TED talk by U-M Aerospace alumna Sydney Hamilton (@SeeSydSoar) about her approach to pursuing opportunities without fear of failure. 

Who Gets to Innovate?

A TED talk by Prof. Christopher Hernandez about seeking to innovate in STEM. 

Expectations of Brilliance Underlie Gender Distributions across Academic Disciplines  

This article presents the theory that women are underrepresented in fields where scholars believe brilliance is necessary for success because women are stereotyped as not having this quality. The paper recommends highlighting the importance of sustained effort over innate talent to counter this problem.