"Mentoring is an essential part of graduate education. The mentor is responsible for ensuring that the student becomes sophisticated in a discipline or field of study, is challenged intellectually, learns how to think critically, and aspires to create new knowledge. Mentors are:

Advisors: people with career experience willing to share their knowledge;
Supporters: people who give emotional and moral encouragement;
Tutors: people who give specific feedback on one's performance;
Masters: in the sense of employers to whom one is apprenticed;
Sponsors: sources of information about and aid in obtaining opportunities;
Models: of identity, of the kind of person one should be to be an academic."

"I think that I wouldn't have had the confidence to apply and actually go through with my studies if it wasn't for the experiences, encouragement and support from SRI and its staff."