SciX 2024: An Interview on Mentorship with Ellen Miseo

Many successful people seek out the help of different mentors throughout their careers. The vast majority (92%) of Fortune 500 companies have mentorship programs, according to a 2023 report from MentorcliQ (1), which also noted that companies with mentoring programs increased their headcounts by approximately 4%, compared to an average headcount decrease of 33% for companies without these programs.

As part of our series of mentorship interviews, we interviewed Ellen Miseo of Miseo Consulting. Ellen has been involved in vibrational spectroscopy and instrument development her entire career and is trained as a physical chemist. She has worked for instrument companies as well as run laboratory operations. She is also a past president of both the Coblentz Society and Society for Applied Spectroscopy (2).

In this interview, we ask Miseo the following questions:

• Who is a mentor that has impacted your career? How did you meet this individual, and what made them a great mentor?
• What’s a piece of career advice this person gave you that helped you grow your career?
• How do you find a good mentor?
• Why is it important to have a good mentor?
• Where can someone who is new to the industry look to find a mentor?
• What role does mentorship play in improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in analytical science?

To learn more about mentorship's place in analytical chemistry, click here for a compilation of mentorship-related interviews.

References

(1) Francis, L.; Cook, S. Growth in Mentoring Builds Success. ATD 2023. https://www.td.org/atd-blog/growth-in-mentoring-builds-success (accessed 2024-10-23)

(2) Ep. 15: Building Professional Spectroscopy Skills and Valuable Networks with the Coblentz Society. LCGC International 2024. https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/ep-15-building-professional-spectroscopy-skills-and-valuable-networks-with-the-coblentz-society (accessed 2024-10-23)