In regard to the article on mentoring in the Oct. 28, 1991, issue of The Scientist [page 19], I find the comment that "it has become crucial for older, white, male scientists to become comfortable mentoring people who are not carbon copies of themselves" to be an inaccurate reflection of the way things are. I am one of those "older, white, male scientists." In my 23 years of being a professor of mathematics, I have had about as many female graduate students as males. My first doctoral student was a black man. Neither I nor any of my colleagues feel uncomfortable with female or minority graduate students. I personally have done much to help junior colleagues in their research: male or female, black or otherwise. In only one respect do I (or my colleagues, to the best of my knowledge) look for "clones"; namely, we are looking for talent. And ...
My Mentor, My Self
In regard to the article on mentoring in the Oct. 28, 1991, issue of The Scientist [page 19], I find the comment that "it has become crucial for older, white, male scientists to become comfortable mentoring people who are not carbon copies of themselves" to be an inaccurate reflection of the way things are. I am one of those "older, white, male scientists." In my 23 years of being a professor of mathematics, I have had about as many female graduate students as males. My first doctoral student wa
Written byHenry Heatherly
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