The Power of Peer Mentoring in Enabling a Diverse and Inclusive Environment in a Chemical Engineering Graduate Program

Authors

  • Cláudio Vilas Bôas Fávero Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA
  • Shannon Moran Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA
  • Omolola Eniola-Adefeso Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

Keywords:

peer mentoring, diversity, inclusivity, graduate program

Abstract

The Chemical Engineering graduate program at the University of Michigan implemented a peer mentoring program for PhD students, with the goal of fostering department inclusivity and improved academic outcomes through facilitated social and academic activities in diverse, small groups. In this article, we detail the peer mentoring program implementation and the program’s measured impact on participating mentees and mentors.

Author Biographies

Cláudio Vilas Bôas Fávero, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

Cláudio Vilas Bôas Fávero is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He received his bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering at the Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Brazil in 2012. Claudio is a member of Prof. Scott Fogler’s research group and his doctorate thesis focuses on the aggregation and deposition of petroleum colloidal systems. Claudio was a mentor in Year 1 of the peer mentor program discussed here.

Shannon Moran, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

Shannon E. Moran is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and received her S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is advised by Professor Sharon Glotzer and her research focuses on the computational study of colloidal self-assembly. She gratefully acknowledges support from the NSF GRFP, ACM SIGHPC/Intel Computational Science Fellowship, and Point Foundation. Shannon was a mentor in Year 2 and a mentee in Year 1 of the peer mentor program discussed here.

Omolola Eniola-Adefeso, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 3074 H.H. Dow, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

Omolola Eniola-Adefeso is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She received a B.S.E. from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania with graduate research support from NASA GRSP. Her research interests include shear-dependent adhesion and migration of leukocytes and design of cell mimetics for vascular-targeted drug delivery.

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Published

2018-03-28

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