As a former engineering team member during undergrad, and current graduate mentor, I could experience and now see how the learning process is more effective with the "learn by doing" approach. And the value of it is not only in terms of trial and error, but it also provides the opportunity for the student to develop the thinking process and approach a problem, and what it takes to reach a solution. It also shows the students that mistakes are part of any development process.

I believe one strong component of mentoring students is to create a sense of autonomy during the project. One-on-one weekly meetings are then an opportunity for us to discuss their progress and their vision for the project based on results. My part in this process is to make sure the students are on the right track, keeping engaged with the project, and discussing possible alternative solutions or directions for the project. Even though I have the "big-picture" for the project, I like to always ask them about what future steps are during these meetings. This is a way for me to work on them the notion that their ideas are also important and that they might help us change the course of our work.

I try to provide the student with as many opportunities as I can find to develop technical and personal skills. When selecting students and research topics, I try to find what the student can get from this experience and what topic will lead them to growth and independence. Always balancing experimental and computational methods.