“Serving as a mentor for Project ENGAGES at Georgia Tech has been an exceptionally meaningful and enriching experience. I have been continually impressed by their intellectual growth, commitment to problem solving, and ability to engage with complex research questions. This mentorship experience has strengthened my own leadership, communication, and project management skills, while deepening my commitment to fostering accessible pathways into STEM for future scientists.”
— Daniel Shah, Georgia Tech Ph.D. Student and Project ENGAGES Mentor, Botchwey Lab
“As a Project ENGAGES mentor, you play an important role in helping high-achieving high school students mature into independent thinkers who are inspired and prepared to pursue impactful work in higher education and their careers. Specifically, you expose them to university life, novel ideas in science and engineering, state-of-the-art facilities, and lots of really smart people. While the benefits to the mentors are not as strongly emphasized, I found the experience to be just as profound for me as a PhD student. For the mentor, Project ENGAGES is an opportunity to work as the direct supervisor to impressionable minds in much the same way a PI mentors graduate students. Project ENGAGES was instrumental in preparing me to lead and to teach. In fact, it not only played a key role in my decision to pursue a faculty career, but I believe it also helped me secure several job offers.”
— Dr. Emily Sanders, Georgia Tech Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and former Project ENGAGES Mentor
Become a Project ENGAGES Mentor
The Project ENGAGES Research Scholars program provides an opportunity for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to mentor high school students in research while gaining valuable mentoring and project management experience.
The 2025-2026 program will run from June 2026 to May 2027. Applicants selected as mentors will be notified of their acceptance by April 1, 2026.
Mentor Application Guidelines:
• Meet with your advisor to ask if mentoring a high school student is a good fit for you and your lab
• Ask advisor to send an email to engages@ibb.gatech.edu giving their approval for you to submit a project for consideration and confirming your full-year availability to mentor
• Submit project proposal by March 2026
• First day for ENGAGES Cohort 13 June 1, 2026 (Date subject to change)
Project Selection:
• Only projects which allow high school students to evolve their research into independent projects will be considered
• Mentors and their projects will be reviewed and selected by a committee
• A lab may submit more than one proposal, but each mentor can only submit one proposal
Other Program Requirements:
• All mentors must be available to mentor scholars throughout the full year, June 2026 through May 2027.
• As a mentor, you will be asked to attend an orientation session in May 2026 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Additionally, mentors will be invited to events throughout the year to highlight the program and receive a $750 travel allowance.
• A progress report and evaluation must be conducted on the mentee at the end of the summer, fall and spring semesters.
- For questions about the mentoring program, contact Michael Glenn and Lakeita Servance