Case study of a pilot mentoring program in transdisciplinary sciences

ABSTRACT We conducted a case study on the implementation of an adult mentoring program designed to connect land-grant university graduate students who participated in a transdisciplinary and multi-institutional research project withindustry professionals for the purpose of exposing students to industry practices. Seven mentees and six mentors participated in the study. We employed the theory of planned behavior to inform findings regarding participants’ behavioral, normative, and control beliefs surrounding professional performance and goal attainment. Program outcomes were positive for student career development, for example expanding graduate students’ professional networks and sharing research findings with industry professionals. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered the mentoring program’s success by adding stress and travel restrictions that prevented full engagement in the program by all parties. Recommendations for improving the program’s success include providing participants with better support mechanisms for initiatingmentoring relationships and encouraging mentees to develop coping mechanisms when faced with cognitive overload and communication apprehension.