Outreach

Science Champions 4 Change

The mission of Science Champions 4 Change is to train and develop scientists as Champions – mentors who take a keen interest in the lives and professional development of their mentees; and empower aspiring scientists to achieve their goals. We have recruited scientists to act as mentoring champions for community college students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Our champions will actively empower and provide resources to students who are interested in pursuing science, but perhaps are not sure how to navigate the path. For many scientists from underrepresented groups in STEM fields, effective mentors were instrumental for achieving success.

Our program has connected current UCI postdoctoral fellows and graduate students with California community college students who are interested in STEM (ex. Las Positas College, American River College, Golden West College), so that these students will have science who can act as champions for them throughout their careers. We began with a specific emphasis on mentoring students from traditionally minoritized backgrounds and currently have 29 students-champion pairs.

Anyone interested can contact Alicia and me using the SciChamps gmail: sciencechampions4change@gmail.com

AWIS@UCI Mentorship Program

The program provides an opportunity for informal mentorship between Postdoctoral Researchers (the mentors) and PhD Students (the mentees).

This program is designed to allow Postdoc Fellows to provide guidance to PhD students as they transition into their next career stage.

The mentorship program will take place during the Spring 2021 quarter, with an estimated total time commitment of 5-6 hours (~1-hour long Zoom meetings every other week).

Interested Postdoctoral mentors and PhD mentees should contact awis@uci.edu

Youth Science Fellowship Program

The UC Irvine, Cancer Research Institute sponsors a summer program in cancer research for high school students. The overall goal is to build the pipeline for the next generation of cancer researchers. A select group of high school students work in the laboratories of CRI affiliates for 6 weeks during the summer. They carry out bench work on research projects under the guidance of faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers or technicians. They also attend a weekly seminar where they receive advice on careers and the college admissions process. At the end of the program they give an oral and poster presentation on their research.

Contact here at cri@darwin.bio.uci.edu

UCI WIR

As early career researchers, postdoctoral scholars often grapple with novel dynamics within academia. Simultaneously, women in academia are often faced with obstacles less understood by their male counterparts. The women in research at the University of California, Irvine, (UCI WIR) program was established to support postdoctoral women by providing them with an opportunity to discuss their experiences, uncertainties, and aspirations with other women in a group setting.

Ethos 

Mentorship meetings are intended to provide support, advice, and encouragement in areas that are unrelated to scientific undertakings. UCI WIR is not intended to provide opportunities or networks for mentees in their respective fields. Instead, the goal of UCI WIR is for women to discuss issues that would similarly affect all women and early career researchers, regardless of their discipline, and in doing so provide a support network that transverses disciplines.

UCI WIR aims to support women as researchers no matter their field or goals!

The structure 

Meetings are such that one senior mentor (i.e., an experienced member of faculty) meets with 5 to 6 postdoctoral scholars from various disciplines. This facilitates both senior and peer mentorship.

To ensure unfettered participation from all mentees and mentors, mentees are not paired with seniors from their affiliated laboratories.

Time  

Mentorship meetings are 1.5 hours.

Meetings are in-person.

For three months, meetings occur monthly. Thereafter, meetings occur once every two months, resulting in a total of seven meetings over 12 months.

All participants are expected to attend all mentorship meetings. Group members are encouraged to choose a time and date accommodating all members at the end of the orientation meeting.

Location 

The first orientation meeting occurs at the Starbucks on UCI main campus outside Natural Sciences III. Group members are encouraged to choose a meeting location that suits all participants at the end of the orientation meeting.

Meeting themes 

Except for the orientation meeting, mentees are encouraged to prepare their own questions for the senior mentor and send these to the organizing committee throughout the program. A theme for each mentorship meeting will be chosen by the organizing committee depending on the prevalent themes and the example questions will be provided to the senior mentor prior to the meeting. During the meetings, mentees are encouraged to discuss and ask all related issues and questions, respectively.

Foundation 

UCI WIR is currently led the postdoctoral association of the University of California, Irvine (UCI PDA)—a volunteer-based organization. Having piloted the program, we are expanding to allow more opportunities for women to benefit from this experience. The more organizers involved; the more groups UCI WIR can facilitate. To get involved, please contact malea@uci.edu

To participate 

To volunteer your invaluable experience as senior researcher, please email malea@uci.edu with ‘UCI WIR senior’ in the subject line.

To participate as a mentee, please email malea@uci.edu with ‘UCI WIR mentee’ in the subject line. Please include:

1. Your career stage and position at UCI
2. All your affiliated laboratories
3. What you hope to gain from participating in UCI WIR