Liz has served an outsize role as a mentor of high schoolers, REU students, IU undergrads, and even grad students in the Rosvall lab. Liz emerged as the go-to mentor in the lab, serving as a role model for the lab’s team of undergrads during the summer 2021 field season, guiding her first REU mentee through a field behavioral project. She has continued to mentor undergrads and REU interns since then. While one of her REU mentees is still in college, the other went on to pursue a PhD in animal behavior, based on the positive experiences she had in working with Liz. Kim notes that unofficially, Liz has mentored practically everyone else in the lab (including a postdoc). She was especially helpful in integrating Kim’s new grad student into the lab while Kim was on sabbatical.

Lauren Brunner, also a PhD student in EEB, is mentored by Laura Hurley. During her time at IU, she has been an exceptional mentor to seven undergraduates, including three REU students. A talented and generous mentor, Lauren’s first REU mentorship experience was in 2021. During the summer program, she and her REU student, Gabriel Jimenez, simultaneously participated in a National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) program called Communicating Across Differences. This program focuses on building mentorship skills between mentors and mentees that come from different cultural backgrounds. A testament to the success of their mentoring relationship: Lauren and Gabriel made a short video about his project that the NRMN features on their website. She has also mentored three students in the Hudson-Holland program, and two of these students are completing honors theses based on their work. According to Laura, Lauren she sees the potential of every student; she values their goals and works with each student to fulfill those goals; she allows her students the space to grow as scientists, by equipping them with the basic skills they need to succeed and letting them explore and develop their own research; and she provides affirmation and encouragement to her mentees as well as instrumental support.