College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Graduate mentor

When it came time to be a college professor, David Lynch reflected back on his experiences as a graduate student.

As a graduate student in physics at the University of Illinois, David Lynch remembered his relationship with his Ph.D. advisor.

"His office door was always open," recalled Lynch, now a Distinguished Professor of physics and astronomy. "But he didn't come around to check up on me and my work. If I had questions, I could go to him and he would listen."

It was an approach that Lynch liked as a graduate student. And once he joined the Iowa State faculty in 1959, he remembered his former professorÕs approach to mentoring graduate students.

"I have tried to emulate his style," Lynch said. "My door is always open to my graduate students."

The results have been effective. This past spring, Lynch was one of two Iowa State professors honored with the Margaret Ellen White Graduate Faculty Award. This award recognizes the efforts of major professors who serve as effective mentors and who enrich the student-professor relationship by support and attention to detail which enables students to finish their work in a timely and scholarly manner. The honorees are also recognized for their support of their students beyond graduation.

The award was founded in 1987 and is named in honor of Margaret Ellen White, a former administrative assistant on campus. The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) is responsible for providing nominations to the Dean of the Graduate College each year. Nominations are collected and screened by the GSS which then forwards the top six nominations to the Graduate Dean. Nominations are restricted to members of the Graduate Faculty who have chaired at least six graduate student committees. The
Graduate Dean appoints an evaluation panel to select the successful awardee each year. The panel solicits endorsements from former graduate students of the nominees.

And later this month, Lynch will be one of five Iowa State faculty members and the only LAS faculty member to receive the ISU Alumni Association's Faculty Citation. That award, which was established in 1948, recognizes Iowa State faculty for inspiring service to students, alumni, and the university and their profession.

Lynch says his relationship with each of his current and former graduate students is completely different.

"There is not a typical graduate student," he said. "Their objectives, interests and styles are all different. I have had students who knew what they wanted to do and only wanted lab facilities. I was only their landlord. There have been others who needed more guidance."

And as for former students.

"I have stayed in contact with many of my former students," he said, "and a few still ask for advice and I'll steer them to colleagues or a journal."

Lynch's own research interests include optical properties of solids (metals and alloys) and photoemission. A faculty member since 1959, Lynch, who is also a senior physicist with the Ames Laboratory, served five years as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

In addition to mentoring graduate students, he has taught graduate-level courses and a wide variety of undergraduate courses.

In the end, he hopes his students think of him not only as a teacher, but a researcher and mentor.

"I've been all of them," he said. "I like the mix of the classroom, the laboratory and working with graduate students."