MentorNet - What is it and how can it Benefit You?



ISCB partnered with MentorNet (www.mentornet.net) three years ago to provide our diverse and growing student and post docmembership with a mentoring option befitting a society whose members are spread across the globe (in nearly 70 countries!) and whorely on computers to do their research as much as to communicate with colleagues and collaborators, near and far. Participation grewslowly in the first two years, but then shrank by half this past year.

So, we are back to the drawing board to assess this benefit, and we encourage members at all levels to explore MentorNet if the possibility of a mentoring relationship (as either a protégé or mentor) via email can add value to your ISCB membership. From a simplified perspective, MentorNet is a matching service for students and junior researchers (protégés) seeking mentors outside their normal circle of advisors, to help address any number of questions ranging from CV critiques to tips on how to balance work, school,home, and outside interests. Mentors join in order to volunteer a small amount of their time to protégés they would otherwise never know, but whom they can positively impact at an important juncture in their careers.

Where MentorNet excels as a program is behind the scenes, through the matching algorithm they have developed that relies on each enrollee’s profile to make the best possible match from within the pool of all candidates. If a profile is too restrictive, a match maynever be found (as has been the case for some ISCB members). If a profile is too broad, the matched protégé and mentor mightdiscover very early on that their chosen fields or interest are too far apart to sustain a beneficial mentoring relationship. The devil is is always in the details and small profile adjustments can help bring about the best possible matches. Please try it out!