Best Mentor Ever!

By Leanne Fan | September 19, 2022

Hello, I’m Leanne Fan and welcome to my last blog post! This week I’ll be talking about my summer mentorship, and a little about what I’ve been doing over the summer.

I definitely think that the best part of my process has been being able to meet different professionals such as a microbiologist and an otolaryngologist, and of course, my mentor! They’ve really helped me carry on with my project and propel things forward. I can also get critiques from them, which is really amazing because I know they just make my project even better and more effective!

Another really exciting thing about the 3M young scientist challenge are all the finalist meetups! I love getting to know all the other finalists, and it’s great to relate to people who are researching and doing their best just like you! Everyone has their own unique personalities and experiences, it’s really amazing.

The most challenging part of my project would be both finding information and trying to find alternatives to testing something that I don’t have access to. It’s been both difficult and rewarding, as finally finding a good solution to my problem and having the test being carried out successfully is really exciting. The thing that helped me most with this was my 3M mentorship with my amazing mentor, Ross! Whenever I have doubts or questions, I always go to him for help. Furthermore, getting to speak to someone with a lot of experience in science and engineering every week about what’s been going on with my project and the progress I’ve made is super helpful. He’s been a great help to finding contacts of people who know a lot about the area I’m focusing on. There are just some things that research won’t get me straight to, so having an amazing mentor like Ross is the best!

Thank you so much for checking in on my blog post, and I’ll see you in my improving lives award submission!

~ Leanne