Join us for the last fall seminar in the CRT series! We invite foundational members of the Fermi-LAT collaboration Mentoring Program, Milena Crnogorčević and Dr. Rania Sanford to discuss their work building an effective mentoring program. As always, lunch at 12:30pm and seminar at 1pm.

Seminar Abstract: After two years of successfully organizing the Fermi-LAT/ Mentoring Program (MP), this initiative continues to draw interest among the members of the collaborations. The primary goal of the MP is to establish and nurture an effective mentoring structure, which provides an additional resource for graduate students to form strong and lasting relationships with their mentors, communicate any questions they have, discuss any issues that arise, and help the students feel well-integrated within the Fermi-LAT/GBM Collaborations and, ultimately, help identify and remove barriers to success. To this end, the MP Organizing Committee identifies suitable mentors for each interested student and provides resources, including training to both mentors and mentees. Entering the fourth cycle of the MP, we here present the structure of the program, training workshop structure, and lessons learned. 

Milena Crnogorčević is an astronomy PhD student at the University of Maryland/NASA Goddard and a member of the Fermi-LAT Collaboration. In addition to spearheading the Fermi mentoring program, Milena has also been involved in a number of outreach initiatives at the University of Maryland; most notably leading the Graduate Resources for Advancing Diversity with Maryland Astronomy and Physics (GRAD-MAP) and the Better Astronomy for the New Generation! (BANG!) seminar series.

Rania Sanford, EdD, PCC is a professional certified coach and seasoned mentor trainer.  She has led the training components of the Mentoring Program at the Fermi-LAT collaboration.  She has a 20+ year history of developing and directing academic development programs for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty at Stanford University. Rania is co-lead of the Stanford School of Medicine Faculty Mentoring initiative; the Stanford Medicine Coaching Office (which she launched with Sarah Williams, MD), and is the founding executive director of the Stanford Physician Leadership Certificate program.  She serves on the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Faculty Affairs Mentoring Program and Professional Development committees. She is the principal of Sanford Associates, LLC, a boutique firm specialized in coaching and executive training in science, healthcare and government.