#SoCaltech: Alexandra Barth

"Mentoring relationships are really the crux of research-based academia and there's definitely a process to learning how to be an effective mentor. Grace, the student I mentored, was here as a WAVE Fellow, doing a 10-week summer research program at Caltech. I had to communicate reasonable expectations of what she could get done in that time and also let her know that you have to be willing to move the goalposts as things move along. You can't plan exactly how research will go. The relationships that you have with your adviser and the people in your division are a huge determinant of your success, especially if you've had a person who has shown you what good, effective mentoring looks like. Many things within academia are very coded, so I think a big component of mentoring is decoding expectations and making sure you're using the right language and hitting field-specific norms that might not be generally communicated to people. At Caltech, I'm on the board of our Women in Chemistry chapter for the division. Reflecting on that experience, I would say that, hands down, the most important thing I've gotten out of Caltech has been all of these opportunities to interface with women in academia. Every time a female academic comes to campus, we'll block out an hour of their schedule, and then we just have a coffee hour and talk with them about their career and about life." 

Alexandra Barth, a graduate student in chemistry, is the recipient of the 2020 Women Mentoring Women Candace Rypisi Outstanding Mentor Award at Caltech. 

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.