Measurement of Mentorship Competency Items for Postdoctoral Mentors in Engineering and Computer Science Disciplines

Postdoctoral training increasingly represents an essential step in advanced research careers in engineering and computer science; however, little is known about postdoctoral mentorship practices, competencies, and needs. The scales evaluated here present an opportunity to investigate global and specific aspects of mentorship competency in postdoctoral engineering and computer science training and education. The global construct of mentorship measured may help assess overall mentor capabilities for postdoctoral mentorship and indicate general needs for mentorship training. Similarly, a global construct assessment from postdoctoral trainees provides an alternative perspective on issues postdocs experience with their mentors. At the same time, individual items may be better used to assess more specific aspects of mentorship capabilities and needs, such as communication or professional development. The mentorship competency assessments for supervisors (MCA-ECS.S) and postdoctoral trainees (MCA-ECS.P) provide mentors and educational institutions opportunities to assess mentor competencies as self-evaluation and mentee-evaluation to understand better the education and training needs of postdoctoral mentors and trainees beyond the structure of graduate education systems.