Role of the mentor for the Ph.D. graduate student in chemistry

CHED 39

Daryle H. Busch, busch@ku.edu, Chemistry Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047
(Speaking to the student) Can we agree on this? Your mentor is supposed to help you find a way to become professional grade as a scholar, creative researcher, and citizen of the profession. There is no manual that is accurate, no formula that is general, and training is, in the most important matters, against the rules. The very nature of successful scientific endeavor practically defines the word dichotomy. Your mentor must introduce you to the experiences that enlighten you, expose you to the challenges that grow you, and enable your efforts so that true discovery, be it ever so small, will delight you. It's a wonder it works at all, but there is hope. Plato struggled with the same kind of problem a little earlier in history.