Mandatory Mentoring

The 2007 America COMPETES Act, requires NSF-funded investigators to describe in their research grant applications how they would mentor postdocs funded on their grants, and it mandates that this information be evaluated under NSF’s broader impacts merit review criteria. Investigators are also required to describe their mentoring activities in their annual and final grant reports. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences may adopt a similar policy: according to its 2008 strategic plan, the institute will consider “implementing a ‘broader aims’ component of research project grant applications that explicitly evaluates an investigator’s training, mentoring, and diversity activities.”

What are your thoughts on this initiative and the implications for advisors and postdocs?