The Foundation is pleased to announce grants to two William T. Grant Scholars to support their development as mentors to junior researchers of color. Kelly Harris will mentor Lindsay Spell, a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. Mariah Kornbluh will mentor Raquel Amador, a doctoral student at the University of Oregon.
As part of the Foundation’s commitment to career development, the mentoring grants program is designed to help William T. Grant Scholars and research grantees both hone their skills and abilities as mentors and help researchers of color reach higher levels on the career ladder.
The program provides $60,000 for mentoring doctoral students and $110,000 for mentoring postdoctoral fellows. All mentors and mentees convene during annual meetings designed to support mentoring relationships, mentors’ learning, and junior researchers’ development as researchers.
With this award, Harris hopes to integrate mentorship and multi-audience dissemination as core values of her research lab and develop skills to broker opportunities for her mentees.
“As Black women navigating academia today, access to a mentor/mentee with a shared identity who understands the challenges from the inside is not a luxury—it is a critical condition for success. This award offers us a unique opportunity to deepen our mentoring relationship, which is grounded in mutual respect, candor, and shared purpose, while also building our individual and collective skills in communication, dissemination, and mentorship,” Harris said. “I hope to learn as much as I teach or more, drawing specifically on Dr. Spell’s willingness to engage and push back, her passion for the work, and the fresh vantage point she brings as an emerging scholar.”
Under Harris’s guidance, Spell will develop advanced skills in quantitative data analysis, implementation science, and community-engaged research methods. Alongside supporting Harris’ Scholars project, Spell will quantitatively assess the usability and feasibility of a technology enabled school-based care coordination system and lead the secondary analysis of academic outcomes for students who have access to a program that provides stock asthma medication to Missouri schools.
“When I think of how this mentorship relationship will develop over the next two years, I imagine increased trust, knowledge sharing, and collaboration that lasts long past this award,” Spell said. “I hope that by the end of this award period I have a clearer picture of the trajectory of my career, that I have further developed the skills that I need to position myself for professional success, and that I have cultivated an environment that supports a long, sustainable research career that aims to improve the lives of children.”
Kornbluh will use this award to pursue culturally-responsive and equity-centered formal mentorship training, foster peer learning communities to reflect on mentoring practices, and cultivate networks that connect mentees to policy-relevant research within Oregon.
“This grant provides a critical opportunity for me to expand my understanding of how to cultivate supportive lab and departmental cultures where scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds can thrive while pursuing equity-focused, community-engaged research. I hope to strengthen my ability to foster these environments in partnership with Raquel, and serve as an effective ally, advocate, and mentor for future scholars,” Kornbluh said.
Amador will support Kornbluh’s research examining whether youth advisory councils influence policy change and guide program improvements in Oregon. With Kornbluh’s support, Amador will use content analysis to examine youth advisory council meeting minutes and conduct semi-structured interviews with policymakers who use youth-generated research.
“I am excited to be mentored by Dr. Kornbluh in this new capacity. Having worked together over the past three years, this opportunity allows us to deepen our professional relationship and discover new ways to support one another,” Amador said.
“I am particularly eager to learn from her expertise in advanced qualitative methodologies and lab management, which are skills I aspire to build as I prepare for my own career goals. At the same time, I hope our continued collaboration allows me to bring fresh research insights and grounded, hands-on project support to her team.”
“The mentoring grants develop mentors’ ability to support junior researchers as much as it bolsters mentees’ career development. We are excited for these dyads to grow their relationships, learn from each other, and advance research on strategies to improve the lives of young people,” said Senior Program Officer Melissa Wooten, who manages the mentoring grants program.
