Nelson honored with Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award
Kimberlyn Nelson, teaching professor of biology, is one of three members of the Eberly College of Science to receive the Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award in 2022. The award was created in 2019 to honor faculty members in the college for their outstanding work in mentoring students, postdocs, and faculty.
Nelson was recognized for consistently being an innovative, passionate, and supportive mentor to undergraduate students as well as to teaching and research faculty through her role as coordinator of the Penn State biology First-Year Research Initiative (FRI). Within the FRI, which Nelson pioneered at Penn State, first-year-students develop critical scientific skills, including data analysis and interpretation, experimental design, and more through special opt-in lab sections of introductory biology courses. Students are given the challenge of designing their own open-ended, discovery-based experiments on the leading edges of biology.
“Nelson not only presents information in an engaging manner, but also ignites a confidence and fire in young students to pursue additional knowledge on their own time,” said one nominator. “This quality allows the FRI lab to produce numerous inquisitive and science loving students each year who are prepared and excited to contribute to Penn State research on a larger, more independent scale.”
Over the last six years, Nelson has challenged more than 150 students through the FRI. According to a nominator, she develops a strong rapport with students year after year, “deftly balancing empathy with rigor and high standards to foster their academic and scientific growth.”
In addition to formal teaching, Nelson has provided informal mentoring to her undergraduates in the form of invaluable life, college, and career advice.
She has also made a positive impact on the FRI teaching assistants (TAs) and instructors. Nelson trains her colleagues to be more than just instructors, but to be coaches through frustration and failure and to give constructive feedback.
“She is a mentor and a voice of wisdom,” said one student, who began as a peer mentor and moved on to be a teaching assistant for the FRI. “Her guidance helped shape me as a leader by offering me a chance to be a TA. She facilitated my growth from a young girl who was too shy to participate to a leader who makes decisions. Without her, I would not have continued on a path of leadership.”
Nelson also makes a point to approach students from different backgrounds, including underrepresented students and women. Another TA added that Nelson “brought out a passion for teaching and research that I didn’t know I had in me.”
One nominator added, “she has been an energetic, innovative, and invaluable faculty member of Department of Biology, and her mentorship has brought out the best in both our students and faculty.”