The student will be part of a collaborative and collegial research group composed of postdocs, doctoral students, master's students, and undergraduates. Apart from participating in the weekly meetings of the research group and being a part of the group's Slack space, the student will meet with the mentor 1-1 on a regular basis to discuss progress and formulate research plans. The norm in the group is to provide and seek input and help on each other's projects on a frequent basis. The student will get additional feedback by posting a report of the past week's accomplishments and describing the goals for the following week. In addition, the student will receive relevant training regarding any software or tools required for the research.

The mentoring approach is based on letting students take ownership of the project and empowering them to lead and be creative. To that end, the mentor will encourage the student to take the time to explore alternatives prior to settling on one and emphasize that mistakes and failures are to be embraced as a core component of learning that is often essential for eventual success and impact of the project. The mentor will carefully adjust the guidance and mentorship to allow the student room for trial and error in developing solutions while benefiting from suggestions based on the mentor's knowledge and experience. Although the student will be challenged to leave the comfort zone, the mentor's caring supervision will provide the necessary scaffolding, safety net, and resources needed for making the experience productive and beneficial.