The Beans Mentorship Initiative will help foster professional identities and establish multi-dimensional mentoring relationships with COFFIES members. Barista Jason Jackiewicz will lead the professional development opportunities and a supportive community for Beans involved in COFFIES.
Planned Activities
In Phase II, COFFIES will initiate activities based on established best practices (Diggs-Andrews et al., 2021) to welcome and support early career scientists.
- External and near-peer mentorship:
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We will pair Beans with a mentor outside their existing professional network, guided by survey data, to expand their network and offer a different perspective on their work and future plans (NASEM, 2019). We will encourage Beans to clearly define expectations and meet with their mentors several times per year. Each Bean will also be paired with a Beans “Buddy” (not from the same institution) to regularly discuss their shared experiences.
- REU mentoring:
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As part of their overall COFFIES commitment, Beans will mentor at least one summer REU student, gaining experience with both sides of the mentoring relationship.
- Monthly professional development presentations:
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We will invite speakers from outside of the immediate research area of solar astronomy to present to Beans, providing visibility into a variety of future career paths that utilize their skills.
- Annual meeting:
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COFFIES will host a yearly Beans get-together, likely concurrent with a national science conference. Beans will network and present their work to each other. COFFIES will provide funds.
- Public dissemination:
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Effective science communication is crucial for early career scientists. When a Beans member publishes a significant journal article, the POISE Team will support them in creating a related Science On a Sphere® presentation. Through this process, they will learn how to best discuss the context and significance of their work with lay audiences and expand cross-Team collaboration. Beans will also contribute short videos summarizing their results to our website.
- Proposal review committee:
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Beans members will be asked to volunteer to serve on a committee that will carry out a review of any proposal that is written by a team member (including other Beans). This will happen 1-2 times per year, and will give them experience about proposal development. Some financial incentive will be considered.
- Publishing incentive:
- Beans will receive a monetary incentive for first-author publications while they are part of COFFIES.