Frankel earns Mentor of the Year Award
Gerald Frankel, professor of materials science and engineering, Det Norske Veritas Designated Chair, and director of the Fontana Corrosion Center, has been named Mentor of the Year by The Ohio State University Postdoctoral Advisory Council.
He was nominated by four of the postdoctoral scholars he mentors, who testified to the quality of training, support, and leadership they’ve received while working with Frankel.
Yakun Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher on the Fontana Corrosion Center, describes Frankel as “full of energy in the class and in life, and he loves to communicate with colleagues, peer scholars, postdoctoral researchers, and young students.” In Zhu’s year with the center, Frankel has encouraged him to attend major conferences, a workshop for postdocs, and a writing course.
Zhu’s colleague, Tianshu Li, came to Ohio State based on Frankel’s outstanding reputation in the corrosion community. During his year with the center, “his profound knowledge, enthusiasm and energy on research really impressed me. However, what impressed me the most is that he really cares about mentoring and helping his students and postdocs to achieve their career goals.”
One area of mentorship that postdoc Xiaolei Guo notes that Frankel encourages his postdocs to break new ground in the field of corrosion. “Instead of assigning me an existing project, he encouraged me to propose a new project all by myself,” Guo said. “It turned out to be a very good professional development experience for me… I came up with a new proposal that involved an area that was completely new to us.”
Frankel introduced Shanshan Wang to the world of corrosion when Wang was a visiting doctoral student at Ohio State. Wang returned in 2015 as a postdoc, and she credits Frankel with helping him design experiments, analyze data, write, and present. More importantly, he says that Frankel urges his postdocs to “do good work and have a healthy and happy life. He sets good examples for us.”
The Mentor of the Year Award recognizes faculty members who have engaged in exceptional leadership of postdoctoral scholars, exhibiting advocacy, accessibility and open lines of communications, fostering a supportive research environment, and demonstrating a sustained commitment to creating a productive working environment.
Recipients of the Mentor of the Year Award are nominated for the National Postdoctoral Association’s Garnett-Powers & Associates, Inc. Mentor Award.
