“What do you do if you’re too nervous?” This question was asked on Saturday in response to my charge to build relationships with professors during the GEM GRAD Lab at Stony Brook University in Long Island, NY. I hear this question often, and regularly work with students so […]
My name, Renetta, means “reborn” and persistence is a core value that was taught in my household. My parents, fueled by their faith, always taught my brothers and I that there was a divine plan for our lives (based on Old and New Testament teachings), and therefore we […]
This past weekend, I had a delegation of approximately 25 graduate students and postdocs at the 2014 SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute for Teaching and Mentoring in Atlanta. I had a session on mentoring faculty who will in turn mentor students, with my colleague, Dr. Christine Grant. Sunday’s […]
On September 18, 2014, I had the honor of participating on a panel for The Atlantic LIVE A New America: Empowering Hispanic Millennials for Tech Leadership, Washington, District of Columbia. My comments focused on access to STEM education, particularly at the graduate level. http://www.theatlantic.com/live/events/new-america5/2014/ This 2-hour program had three […]
Although my sessions at mentoring sessions at MIT have been taped for the last few years, the plan to have a mentoring series came as a result of a complicated schedule. When I came to UMBC, I started the “When Faculty Say ‘X’ (They Really Mean ‘Y’)” seminar […]
Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to have a picture taken with a subset of my awesome team in my (not-so-neat) office and it reminded me of a recent request. I have been asked to present a list of my mentees! This is an exciting prospect and an […]
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a chance to lead an international session on Women in STEM and Diversity (Mujeres en STEM y Diversidad) in Ecuador (Agenda – Broadening the STEM Research Participation of Women-URM-Disabilities), lead an international National Science Foundation delegation, and participate in a national […]
It was an honor and a privilege to lead the United States delegation to Ecuador for the National Science Foundation’s project on international engagement and broadening participation in engineering. Our group participated in the Foro Latinoamericano de Estudiantes sobre Educación en Ingeniería (FLEEI) for engineering students which was held at La […]
This week, I had a chance to join colleagues Dr. Melanie Harrison (NOAA in California), Sara Xayarath Hernandez (Director of Diversity Programs for the College of Engineering at Cornell University, and winner of a US Presidential Award for Mentoring), and Dr. Ashanti Johnson (Executive Director for the Institute […]
A few years ago, I wrote a post about the joy of having mentees who can surpass you. The joy continues! On Tuesday, I had a chance to meet with a mentee, Dr. Frances Carter-Johnson at MIT. We’d started a meeting in Virginia at the Society of STEM Women […]
I am honored to be a speaker for the U.S. News STEM Solutions conference in Austin, TX on June 18, 2013. Our panel just had a conference call to prepare for next week, and I’ve learned that we will be the only group talking about holistic support systems […]
It was my great pleasure to meet and work with researchers and students at Purdue University as they launched their “Mentoring at Purdue (MAP)” program, sponsored by the USDA. This program, held at the end of January, was sponsored by the College of Agriculture, and the Principal Investigators, […]
Today is the last day of the semester and I am still meeting with students, going over evaluations, and helping them plan for the next stages of their programs. I love what I do, but today served as a reminder for why I do what I do. I […]
Today I am in Alaska where there is a 4 hour time difference between here and the east coast. I was a speaker for the GEM GRADLab at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society’s annual conference. It has been cold and dark, but it’s worth it […]
This afternoon I gave a talk on social media at the Sloan Director’s meeting as part of the 2102 SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in Tampa, Florida. Earlier this week, I also discussed social media with administrators at Cornell. Both talks reminded me that […]
Thank you for the outpouring of support regarding our short paper on the “Success Equation.” This information has been presented at the following venues: MIT MSRP Summer Research Dinner, Boston, June 2012 UMBC Summer Success Institute, Baltimore, August 2012 Ana G. Mendez System Research Symposium Dinner, San Juan, […]
This morning, my husband and I were talking about my upcoming day as a co-facilitator for the PROMISE Dissertation House (co-sponsored by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and The Graduate School at UMBC) and the numbers of students who are even calling my cell phone to ask if they can participate […]
Today, my UMBC co-author Autumn Reed presented our paper on strategies for recruiting, training, and transitioning postdoctoral scholars to career based on our experiences with NSF’s ADVANCE at UMBC and the PROMISE AGEP in Maryland. The paper was part of the WEPAN 2012 conference in Columbus, Ohio. Here […]
I have the privilege of working with a group at MIT, so I have a chance to get to Boston a few times a year. On my most recent trip, I saw the shirt that you see in this post, which says, “Math is hard. So is life. […]
This quote came from the director of a graduate fellowship program during his talk to potential graduate students this morning! I am in Minnesota at the AISES conference and I gave a talk a this morning to undergrads in STEM fields from across the nation about preparing for […]
This past weekend, my Graduate Assistants and I were in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Ana G. Mendez University System Research Symposium. I’ve been to Puerto Rico before since I regularly work with faculty, staff, and students from the universities on the island. However, this was the […]
Yesterday, UMBC hosted the Summer Horizons Program for about 100 undergraduates who are conducting summer research at NASA, UMBC, NSF, University of Maryland College Park, and other locations. One of the top items that the students identified in the evaluations as new information that they didn’t know prior […]
This week, I’ve been working with Dr. Wendy Carter (“Head Coach”) as a co-leader for UMBC‘s annual Summer Dissertation House. This event brings together advanced graduate students who have applied for a space in a 4-day workshop on writing the dissertation and preparing for the defense. I blog […]
I have the wonderful opportunity to speak with students around the country, and this post is both written for and inspired by them. Sometimes I meet students who are experiencing their first summer internship, or participating in their first research assignment, and my eyes widen when they say […]
I sincerely thank all of my students and colleagues for their support over the years. Many have been asking for my speaking and events schedule for the next few months. Here are the dates that I have on my calendar. March 2011: I enjoyed speaking at the National […]
This year, I wrote so many recommendation letters that I decided to put these “tips” into an online post so that I don’t have to continue to type my “list” into emails. These are the things that I need to have from you when I contemplate or agree to […]
Renetta Garrison Tull - Living Life Online 