Mentored Research

Upon beginning the program, Ph.D. students will be paired with a faculty mentor. Students should take the initiative to get to know their mentor at the beginning of their first semester, and they should meet with their mentor a minimum of three times per semester. The goal for this mentoring relationship is to support the student throughout coursework. On the occasions when faculty mentors do change on the initiation of the student or faculty, the program will strive to identify alternative mentors for the student in a timely manner. Students are allowed to continue working with their faculty mentor as dissertation chairs if they leave Silver and move to a different institution.

Mentoring is central to the learning experience of NYU Silver PhD students and is in many ways the heart of the PhD program. Silver School faculty bring a wealth of experience and opportunities to their mentor-mentee relationships. They are renowned for their expertise in a range of research areas—including health and mental health services research and poverty studies—with a strong portfolio of grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, other federal funders, and major foundations. Through these funded projects, they provide students with advanced training opportunities and help them develop co-authored scholarly publications and co-presentations at national scientific conferences. They also collaborate on other focused learning partnerships, such as those offered through the PhD Program Research Lecture Series.

Silver School doctoral students engage in cutting-edge research training with faculty at our nationally and globally recognized research centers.