Terry L. Alford

Professor of Engineering

In Will Allen Dromgoole's poem, ‘The Bridge Builder,' a senior person overcomes a grand challenge and in a selfless act builds a bridge to assist "A youth whose feet must pass this way." That is the gist of mentoring - a truly selfness act of helping young people who have chosen to follow your path and to follow your guidance. A good mentor has an innate desire to listen to each student's thoughts and concerns, to remove any barriers to the students' success, and to identify/nurture the student's gifts. I believe that a mentor's ultimate satisfaction comes by the transformation of a student into a respected colleague.

First and foremost, the mentor must be a willing role model who processes professional integrity and is knowledgeable of their discipline. She or he should possess the skills needed to conduct research. Effective mentoring takes commitment and patience. In most cases, good mentoring practices are developed and cultivated over time. All students learn differently and pursue knowledge differently. Hence, the mentor must be flexible enough to specifically address each student's need. In addition, the need of each student will depend on the current stage of their professional development. For example, interacting with a first-semester graduate student - they ask more questions - is different from interacting with a senior PhD student - they provide answers. Mentoring of a more senior independent student is different from mentoring an uncertain junior student.

I believe that any graduate student entering my group must understand my expectations with regard to research, authorship on manuscripts, and senior students mentoring of junior (graduate and undergraduate) students in the research group. As an advisor to my graduate students, I not only provide opportunities for research, financial support, internship, and future employment. I provide opportunities for cumulative small successes that strengthen the student's confidence, and stimulate their creativity. I give my students the opportunity to be first author on most of my publications. I encourage my students to be creative and to generate patent disclosures of which several have lead to patents. I am most satisfied with the fact that all of my PhD students have accepted employment prior to graduation. Furthermore I have several former graduate students who have become entrepreneurs.

My students benefit from my knowledge and breadth of my discipline as it relates to their graduate program. I have advised or co-advised students from several disciplines including materials science, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering. I have served on graduate committees in the above mentioned fields as well as physics and chemistry. My graduate students also profit from my past experience as the Faculty Graduate Advisor and my current role, as MS Non-Thesis Advisor. I keep my students abreast of the department and university graduate programs' policies, deadlines, and expectations.

I always try to provide opportunities for the graduate experience to interact with other faculty and industrial researchers through collaborative research activities, internships, and actually supervising the laboratory facilities. This also allows the student to experience different perspectives on their research and provides the opportunity to organize a diversity dissertation/thesis committee with members that have the necessary expertise and who also can serve in a supportive mentoring capacity as well. The committee and I provide appropriate feedback to the student on a variety of matters ranging from selection of coursework to their progress on research to the opportunities to network and present research findings at regional and international meetings. To this point, I have had four doctoral students to win the best paper at four different Precious Metal Institute Meetings. I have also had one student to follow in my very own footsteps and win the prestigious Best Paper at the Materials Research Society Conference.
I created and directed research projects for visiting graduate students from University of the Western Cape, South Africa. I also prepared and sent my graduate students to University of the Western Cape, South Africa for shared research projects. I mentored ASU Preparation of Future Faculty graduate program students by attending faculty-student brown bag discussions for lunch and sharing ideas for research and promoting teaching at the graduate level.

I have been advisor for ASU Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) for the past ten years. I have worked closest with the leadership of NSBE to plan their fundraisers and their national conference participation. A couple of years the district meetings have been hosted by the ASU chapter. I also encouraged the members to be leaders that other engineering students could aspire to be like. I have also had some of these NSBE students to go on to advanced degrees in engineering and in law. I am proud to share that about 80% of students who completed undergraduate senior projects with me as their advisor have successfully completed graduate degrees.

I believe in being my student's strongest advocates for their success. I provide a working environment where they can find a comfortable level of intellectual, technical, ethical, and financial support. Good mentoring makes a difference in helping the student to be to reach her or his full potential. My students enter into the market place with the confidence that they are well prepared academically and mentally, and they have the self-sufficiency to embark on a career and life¬long learning.