U of A postdoctoral fellow recognized in student-nominated award for mentorship in undergraduate research

Qutuba Karwi has been awarded the U of A’s Outstanding Mentorship in Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities award, a student-nominated honour that recognizes mentors going above and beyond.

Karwi, a postdoctoral fellow within the faculty of medicine and dentistry, was nominated by students to receive the award. The award recognizes exemplary mentors that help empower students to accomplish goals and foster the next generation of researchers.

Mentors are nominated by students who have worked with them within the past four years. Nominees are judged by a multidisciplinary committee of undergraduate students and graduate students. The committee considers the personal support, professional support, and intellectual support provided by the nominee.

Karwi noted it was a “privilege” to receive this award. 

“It’s a privilege, [people who I work with] nominated me for this award, it’s just an amazing thing to receive,” he said.

He noted that in science, everyone is learning consistently — including the mentors. 

“Everyone who is learning, is stepping on each other’s shoulders,” he said. “The thing with mentoring that I often see is that students are the ones who provide these shoulders for me to see a little bit further down the road.”

During his experience as a mentor, Karwi has worked with a diverse group of people including people from high school, undergraduates, and post-graduates. This has given him the “amazing opportunity to develop mentorship skills that fits everyone.” 

Karwi’s mentorship also helps each student along their own unique journey.

“One of the first questions I ask is ‘where do you want to go next, what is your endgame?’” he explained. “I have a number of examples where I was involved in the training of someone who made it to medical school. On the other hand, people will come to have some science background … So I can say it’s a privilege to be working with different styles of mentorship.” 

He concluded with his appreciation for the award and everyone who nominated him.

“I am extremely thankful and very honoured to get this award. It feels really amazing when you get a kind of confirmation that you actually helped someone to get to the next step… If I were to give this award to someone I would give it back to everyone who nominated me, they helped me as much as I think I helped them, it’s a mutual benefit.”