Akamai Mentor Workshop

Friday, May 17th and Saturday, May 18, 2024
Grand Naniloa Hotel, Hilo, Hawaii

This workshop helps mentors in the Akamai Internship Program to design an experience for their intern that will be valuable to both the mentor and the intern. Treating the mentored project as an experience that can be designed, the workshop guides mentors through a process that uses principles similar to those that guide curriculum design.

Who this workshop is for?

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All Akamai Internship mentors and co-mentors
(including those attending past workshops)

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Colleagues of mentors who are prospective mentors in the future

Mentors come back year after year because they value the support they get for mentoring, being part of the community of mentors, and what they learn that can be applied more generally to supervising.

Workshop themes are related to the factors that research tells us are important for keeping people in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM):

Authentic Practices

Using the authentic practices of STEM

Ownership & agency

Ownership & agency as a person in STEM

Recognition

Recognition by meaningful people for what is valued in STEM

Belonging

Having a sense of belonging in STEM

During the workshop, mentors work with other mentors and Akamai Program staff to use the themes above to “design” an internship experience. They start with their general idea of how the intern will go about doing the project the mentor has in mind, and fine tune it to:

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Teach the intern critical thinking skills and practices that are valued in the workplace

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Foster intern ownership over their project and promote self-initiative

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Enable day-to-day recognition of intern’s work

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Includes explicit strategies on giving effective feedback to intern

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Integrate the intern into the work community

Process to attend

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Submit an application which includes request for travel support

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Acceptances and travel awards are sent after Akamai Internship placements are made in late March – early April

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Priority is given to those who have a confirmed Akamai intern placed with them, but the workshop usually has capacity for others.

Cost of the Workshop

The registration fee for this workshop is waived for all accepted participants

Applicants may request travel awards which cover airfare and hotel costs

This workshop is offered through the ISEE at University of California Observatories in partnership with University of Hawai‘i, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Click here to see past participants and organizations

Please contact us with any questions: akamai@ucsc.edu