STEWARD

Source: https://womensforum.iitm.ac.in/steward.php Parent: https://womensforum.iitm.ac.in/

STEWARD | Women's forum

STEWARD (STEm Women scholars And Researchers Development)

One of our flagship programs is the STEWARD mentorship program for research scholars.

We provide mentorship for women research students through one-to-one interactions with senior Phd students, postdocs, Alumni and faculty mentors

Women’s Forum IITM
IITM alumni association and
a grassroots, independent group of IITM women alumni. This mentorship program is exclusive to women PhD research scholars at all levels.

35 mentors from academia and R&D from around the world of which 19 are alumni and 16 are professors of IITM,
69 IITM research scholar mentees and
17 IITM post comprehensive PhD candidates mentoring the other research scholars.

Increase % of women thriving in scholarly/R&D or related path
Achieve at least 30% women in research/scholarly positions at IITM (grad, postdoc, faculty positions ) in every discipline and at every level
Ensure placement of at least 20% IITMwomen undergrads, 40% IITMwomen masters and 80% women PhD graduates at IITM in scholarly or R&D-related (academic or industry/lab) and ensure that they thrive at every level.
For both women at IITM and women alumni at IITM (above 2 categories) provide support to
1. Ensure normal progression through position/career, without attrition
2. publish/patent at international levels/norms (for type of position) for each stage in career: junior grad, senior grad, postdoc, asst/assoc/full prof or scientist or equivalent
3. maintain citations at international levels — normed by discipline
4. maintain funding (adjusted PPP) at international levels — as needed for discipline
5. maintain # of advisees at international levels — as normal for discipline
6. ensure health and progress of your discipline as a whole

Distribute the mentoring stories and examples (see Activities slide) to every woman student. They then know that when they feel thusly, they can approach their mentor.
The mentor-mentee must have a 1-1 meeting at least once a semester – time (and money) willing, a mentor can take all their mentees out for lunch, etc., in addition. Mentors who are not local should have zoom interactions with their mentees.
Let them know that a mentor is available to listen to them 24/7 – this is important for preventing tragedies. – it is probably the case that very very few such occurrences will arise.
Mentor should be able to hand off mentee to another mentor for reasonable reasons (not getting through, temperamentS not syncing up, etc) .
Mentors must have a line of communication open to local mental-health counselors

STEM Women faculty @IITM.
STEM Women alumnae @IITM in academic and R&D careers.
Senior peers.
Women in the STEM education space, in particular, those wishing to help recruit future Ph.D. scholars.

Junior women faculty @IITM.
Women research scholars/alumnae during and after their tenure @IITM.
Continue on to academic or R&D careers.
Continue on to teaching positions.
Those that drop out or do independent research e.g. DST support.
Masters and UGRAD students @IITM who are interested in continuing towards a STEM doctoral degree

We plan to conduct a series of workshops that are open to both Mentors and Mentees with STEM speakers, group discussions, and exercises.