Mentors are faculty members from the 8 Bridge units who participate in the supervision of Bridge graduate student thesis research, serve as representatives on Program committees, coordinate and develop content materials for the graduate courses, participate in multidisciplinary operating grant writing, or supervise development of undergraduate course modules or internships.

Adding Mentors / Academic Units

Only faculty members from participating units can be added as faculty mentors. Faculty members who are not currently Bridge mentors can apply to do so by contacting the Program Manager.

If a student from a non-Bridge unit would like to participate in the program, their corresponding department must also be involved. The department must approach the Bridge Program with a formal proposal indicating their commitment to the Bridge Program.

Mentor Responsibilities

While more active participation is expected of those who supervise Bridge Fellows, listed below are our expectations of Bridge faculty mentors:

- Participating and/or leading one of the Bridge classes at least once during the 6 year period of our current grant 

- Serving on one of the Bridge committees 

- Helping with review of student proposals from Bridge 501/601 course Supervising Bridge students during their internship placements

- Increasing awareness of the Bridge Program amongst senior undergraduate students and eligible 1st year graduate applicants 

- Supporting Bridge students by attending relevant class sessions

Supervisor's Responsibilities

The Bridge Program offers one year of guaranteed fellowship funding. It is expected that the student, with the assistance of their supervisor, will seek alternate funding for subsequent years. The supervisor should take an active role in directing students to suitable scholarship applications or in finding operating grant funding. At the end of each academic year, the student, in conjunction with their thesis supervisor, must complete an Annual Progress Report. As part of this report, the student may apply for continued Bridge Program funding, however this application will not be considered unless there is evidence included in the report that there have been applications for other sources of funding.

The Bridge Program encourages supervisors to participate in the two Bridge courses – Research Grant Development (BRDG 501/601) and Thesis and Journal Seminar (BRDG 500/600). Having many different faculty members involved with these courses provides valuable interdisciplinary insights in discussions and research development.

Supervisor Selection

The thesis supervisor must be a faculty mentor in the Bridge Program (i.e. from a participating unit).

For more information about supervisors, please see the Handbook of Graduate Supervision, prepared by the Faculty of Graduate Studies:

http://www.grad.ubc.ca/students/supervision/

Committee Selection

The thesis committee must include at least one faculty member with expertise in each area:

• health (public, occupational, or environmental)
• engineering
• public policy