MIT Koch Institute
April 1, 2021
The KI is proud to congratulate 2020's Peter Karches Mentorship Prize winners. Each year, the prize recognizes the critical role mentorship plays in engaging the next generation of cancer researchers.
This year's winners are:
Suman Bose: Dr. Bose is a postdoc in the Anderson Lab who thoughtfully commits time and effort to personally train technicians, undergrad, and grad students, and make their experience as productive as possible, which results in many of the UROPs working multiple years in the Anderson Lab and even working with Dr. Bose for their bachelor’s thesis research. His mentees say he gives them freedom to develop their ideas, making them feel like equal stakeholders in projects. He encourages mentees to be confident and think deeply about problems, all while being available to give help when it is needed.
Crystal Chu: Dr. Chu, a postdoc from the Langer Lab, was nominated jointly by an MIT undergrad student and a research technician. Dr. Chu joined the Langer lab in 2017 and has been mentoring five younger group members since, each over several years. Her mentees describe her as fully embodying the spirit of the Karches Mentorship Prize, providing a multidisciplinary approach to her mentoring and integrating fundamental science and engineering concepts into the research they collectively engage in. She pushes her mentees to offer their own ideas, observations, and future directions, and emphasizes the importance of science communication as an immersive way of learning. And, she encourages her mentees to attend seminars and talks in a wide variety of subjects. Dr. Chu's efforts prepared these young scholars for careers in the STEM field, overcoming their doubts and hesitations as underrepresented minorities in the field.
Dan Schmidt: Dr. Schmidt worked at the Vander Heiden Lab during his residency in radiation oncology, showing a remarkable ability to instill enough knowledge and confidence in a student so that they can think and work independently. Dr. Schmidt has succeeded in doing so over and over again; his mentees all have become excellent independent scientists. Additionally, his mentees and his faculty mentor attest that Dr. Schmidt’s mentoring support goes far beyond the scientific realm, showing a willingness to listen to problems, science-related or not, and offering invaluable professional and life advice.
Molly Wilson: Lees Lab graduate student Molly Wilson has been mentoring a UROP to be both an excellent scientist, a great technician, and a published author. Molly initiated a journal club with her mentee, giving her UROP equal selection privileges in their reading choices so they both could be exposed to new science. When the pandemic hit, Molly created a thoughtful, remote project for her mentee, who was not allowed to come to the lab. This way her mentee could stay engaged, continue learning, and conduct a project independently.