As an undergraduate student and a first-generation college graduate, Terry Nathan assumed he would follow a traditional career path once he obtained his graduate degree in atmospheric science. Becoming a university professor never even occurred to him, until his graduate thesis advisor, who demonstrated by example the importance of mentorship, introduced the possibility of a university career. Today, as a professor of atmospheric science in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, Nathan has been paying it forward, serving as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students for over thirty years. His experience as a research scientist, teacher and photographer was integrated into the MCT proposal, titled “Collaborative Mentoring in STEM Research,” which won one of the first five inaugural fellowships from the Mentoring at Critical Transitions program. He and his mentee, Will Turner IV, a second-year master’s student in the Atmospheric Science Graduate Program, are exploring mentoring in the broader context of communication: transcending the written word to also include oral and visual communication methods.

“There is indeed an intersection between my art photography, scientific research, and goals of the proposal,” Nathan explains. “Communicating science frequently hinges on the display of data, often in the form of graphs or photographs. By mastering the grammar of visual communication—which involves understanding how color, tone, shapes, and so on combine to provide meaning—scientific findings can most effectively be communicated.” 

Since one of Nathan’s research areas is the history of meteorology, joining forces with Turner, who is examining the relationship between droughts and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, was a natural match.

Despite—or perhaps because of—his longstanding experience as a mentor, Nathan understands the importance of strengthening one’s capacity as a mentor in order to keep pace with ever-evolving academia and its real world applications. “MCT provides greater awareness of the myriad aspects of mentoring and a sharper focus to the mentoring process,” he says. “One important outcome will be passing along the mentoring skills that I have acquired to my mentees, which will enable them to become better mentors in both their professional and personal lives.”  

Turner, also a first-generation college graduate, agrees. “The value of being mentored is to have someone who will not only challenge you to exceed your academic and professional limits, but also support you along the way.” Turner admits that his first year at UC Davis was more challenging than he expected: “The only thing I had going for me was attending classes and meeting with Terry on a regular basis. This mentorship has definitely supported my academic and professional goals.”

Those goals include being in an environment where he can conduct and present scientific research to broad audiences—a milestone that, under Nathan’s guidance, Turner has already achieved, when he made his first scientific presentation of original research at an international conference: the American Meteorological Society's Annual Meeting 2016.  

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Turner turns to an environmental analogy to describe the mentor/mentee relationship. “Growth is often said to be like a tree. The tree grows upward, with the top as the goal, and the branches representing the distractions and challenges that occur along the way. Like weather, life is sometimes unpredictable. It is at those times when Terry’s mentoring has been essential, when he has encouraged me to persevere and continue to move forward.”