Mentoring Engineering Students: Challenges and Potential Rewards

Engineering faculty have many types of relations with their students. In class, they are primarily the facilitators of learning. Also, they act as advisors guiding students through their years of education. In some cases, the relationship between the student and the professor evolves into a mentoring relationship –which is the topic of this paper. This paper takes a practical look at the challenges and rewards of experienced engineers and educators becoming mentors for students or young practicing engineers. The author recommends an approach to mentoring that is deep in self-evaluation, one that considers the intellectual, social, cultural, and professional development needs of students and young professionals, and the need for taking little steps one step at a time that may make a big difference in student’s performance and attitudes towards learning. It is argued that such an approach to mentoring will help encourage more underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities, to pursue careers in engineering. The paper, also, describes some attributes of mentoring and suggests how a faculty member might become a good mentor to students.