More information: Each year, the program will offer four 8-week mentoring cohorts; members can sign up to be part of one or more of these sessions. In each, mentors and mentees will commit to four meetings.
In the application process, each mentee will be able to select their areas of study as well as the areas on which they wish to focus during their mentorship. Whether a mentee wants to focus on exploring a particular area of nuclear, their educational plans, or the future of their career, they will be matched with a mentor who has relevant experience.
Mentees will also have the ability to choose between a traditional or near-peer mentor—someone who is only one step further in their educational or career path.
Demographic changes: In the past four years, ANS’s student and graduate student membership has grown by nearly 70 percent. The Society now has more members under the age of 40 than over 65, reflecting the broader growing excitement among today’s students around nuclear science and technology as critical tools to meet our energy needs and decarbonization goals.
In order to support this unprecedented influx of students, the relaunched Mentor Match program aims to connect people within ANS, providing opportunities for educational growth and networking. Early-career and established professionals, as well as college students, are strongly encouraged to sign up to be a mentor here.
With investment in and plans around new nuclear development on a meteoric rise in the U.S., a large future workforce is needed now more than ever across every part of the industry. On the mentor side, the program represents an opportunity to help foster that workforce; on the mentee side, it’s a chance to find guidance in joining that workforce.
