David Ferry,
Regents’ Professor of Electrical Engineering

My major mentoring policy is to try to develop within students an independence of spirit, in order to carry out research of their own planning, but within the general philosophical guidelines of my research program. During the program of graduate study, coursework and research work are both designed to place the student at the forefront of understanding within the narrow research field chosen. Coursework prepares an advanced level of understanding of the theory and practice in this field, while attendance at major international conferences and workshops helps introduce the student to the major players from other institutions and industries. The target is to have the student ready to compete with these competitors in a fashion that can lead to the success of the student's own program of research.

We watch how the students change and mature and go out to be quite independent people. There is a phase transition where students go from having lots of questions to having lots of answers. The thing that you have to do is avoid doing the work for the students. They have to be independent people. Mentors have to nurture them to do independent thinking and to be able to do the work on their own so that they reach their goals and achieve success.

A mentor needs to introduce students to the environment they're going to be in, introduce them to people in the field, and let them learn what the critical issues are. Some of them need to be helped along some times. Sometimes they have rough spots. A mentor is akin to a psychological advisor. Sometimes they need a pat on the back, and sometimes they need a kick in the rear. The mentor has to understand which is the thing they need at the time and how to help them out of the depressed moods they're going to get into and then keep them from getting too ecstatic when they reach the highs.

Each student is different. Some of them are exceedingly bright. A mentor just tries to point them in the right direction. With others, the mentor watches them mature from not being very good to being good before they finish. In some sense, these students are more satisfying because you helped make them what they are in that program. A good mentor will try to figure out the right way to motivate them so they can succeed as best they can.

Because of the need to allow students to develop on their own to the level necessary to carry out independent research at the highest level, I do not lean over their shoulder to discuss every detail of the research. Rather, I try to foster on their part a recognition of my goals for the program, make myself available to discuss questions as they arise, and discuss with them the results of the research. All of this includes challenging them to begin to prepare manuscripts for publication as research results begin to accrue. While it is impossible to have them write the papers on their own, it is important that they begin to understand how a manuscript is put together and how a consistent theme is carried throughout the document.

The training of the student involves not only coursework, but also research methodology. The latter must be imparted to the student by working within the group of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members on our research team. Senior graduate students teach the laboratory practices, particularly in the experimental laboratories, to the younger students. While I could, of course, do this, it is important to recognize that the senior students have developed their own ideas on how the labs should be run - as part of their independence - and it is important not to introduce the young students in a way that would counter this.

Changes in the laboratory practices developed by the senior students are made only after serious discussions with them. There are several important consequences of this practice. First, all students learn to work as part of a team. Secondly, new students are helped to avoid frustration when they discover that the senior students actually know more about the field than they do. Third, a consistent and orderly set of laboratory procedures is maintained that maximizes the research productivity.

There are a number of obstacles to getting the students through their research. Perhaps the major obstacle is time. Teaching classes, with corresponding preparation and office hours, takes time, which is part of the job. But it is only one of the many demands on my time. It's quite difficult at times, when you would rather be talking science with the students. There are different ways of overcoming these limits. My students work late hours when I'm at home, so there will be emails awaiting me in the morning. Then we have to sit down and talk about the details of the projects. The issue is how to keep the students going forward, while balancing all the time constraints.

Since science is becoming more global, there are more collaborations. In nano-electronics, we're dealing with very small things, but the science projects are quite large. No longer are some things done by just one student. There are collaborations, and in some cases collaborations with scientists in Europe and Japan. In trying to stress the ability to deal with collaborating in a team, I have to teach the students how they're going to be part of this team and what their part of the picture - their contribution - is going to be. Not only do we have these collaborations, but I still have to identify a project that belongs to each student. Individual students must have their identifiable contributions to show that what they have is worthy of a degree. That's what the Ph.D. is all about. The student requires an independent piece that ties in with the whole project. A publication may have 15 names on it, and we have to make sure the student gets proper credit.

If I can summarize the entire procedure, it is to help students be the best that they can be by competing directly with the leaders at the forefront of the field.