Creating a Mentor Account

This guide walks new mentors through the account signup process on the DDMatch platform.

Step 1: Signup¶

Navigate to the homepage and click “Mentor login” in the top-right menu.

This will redirect you to the mentor login portal where you can either create a new account or log in with your existing credentials.

Step 2: Click “Signup”¶

On the Welcome DD Mentors login screen, locate the “Don’t have an account? Signup” link at the bottom of the form and click it.

This will redirect you to the Become a Mentor registration form where you can create your new account.

UC Berkeley affiliates: if you have a CalNet ID, you can click “Sign in with CalNet” on the login screen instead of creating an account with an email and password. CalNet sign-in is only for UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students; all other mentors should sign up with their email address.

Step 3: Complete the Signup Form¶

Enter your email address and choose a secure password that includes at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character. Confirm your password, then click “Signup”.

Once submitted, you will be prompted to verify your email before gaining access to your mentor dashboard.

Step 4: Verify Your Email¶

On the Check your email screen, look in your inbox for the six-digit code sent to your registered email address. The code expires in 10 minutes. If you don’t see it, be sure to check your spam or junk folder. Enter the code in the boxes provided, then click “Activate account”.

If you didn’t receive the code, or it expired, click “Request a new code” to resend it.

Step 5: Login to Your Account¶

Once your account has been verified, return to the Mentor login page. Enter your registered email and password, then click “Login” to access your dashboard. UC Berkeley affiliates who use CalNet can click “Sign in with CalNet” instead.

You now have full access to your Mentor Dashboard, where you can manage your profile, submit project proposals, and track student applications.

Step 6: Organization Profile: Contact¶

Upon first login, you’ll be asked to complete your Organization profile. The form has five tabs: Contact, Organization, Resources, Commitment, and Logo. A progress bar at the bottom shows where you are, and you can click Previous to go back at any time.

On the Contact tab, enter the name (first and last) of the administrative contact person for the project, the email where notifications should be sent, and your title. Click Next to continue.

This is the person students and Data Discovery staff will contact about your project.

Step 7: Organization Profile: Organization¶

On the Organization tab, fill in your organization details, such as its name, website, a short introduction, and the sector your organization belongs to (e.g., Private Industry, Non-Profit). Click Next to continue.

These details will be displayed to students and help match your organization with the right candidates.

Step 8: Organization Profile: Resources¶

On the Resources tab, you’ll be asked whether your project would benefit from access to computing resources. These may include the CDSS DataHub (NAIRR infrastructure), Savio (UC Berkeley’s high-performance computing cluster), and additional resources such as the OpenAI API and Hugging Face models.

Select the most accurate response: Yes, No, or Maybe, then click Next to proceed.

Step 9: Organization Profile: Commitment¶

On the Commitment tab, read the Program requirements carefully. Mentors are expected to:

1. Meet with students on a weekly basis.

2. Be available for student questions outside of scheduled meetings.

3. Support students’ educational outcomes and program requirements, including their participation in the Data Discovery course and an end-of-term poster session.

4. Communicate with Data Discovery staff as issues arise.

5. Provide mid-term and end-of-term evaluations of each student’s engagement and progress, shared with Data Discovery and with each student privately.

6. Ensure a safe, professional, inclusive work environment, in line with UC Berkeley campus policy on Environment, Health & Safety.

7. Attend an orientation meeting.

8. Meet the deadline for application review and interviews, and form your student team by the first week of the semester.

Select “Yes, I agree to commit to the requirements.” and click Next to proceed.

Step 10: Organization Profile: Logo & Submit¶

On the Logo tab, choose whether you’d like your institution’s logo displayed, with credit to your organization, on the CDSS Data Discovery website. If you select “Yes, please include our logo”, attach your logo file. It must be under 1 MB and exactly 700 × 200 pixels. Otherwise, select “No, thank you”. Then click Submit to complete your profile.

Your profile is now ready, and you can start using the platform.

Step 11: Explore the Dashboard¶

Once onboarded, you’ll land on your Dashboard, which gives an overview of the current term. From here you can see:

• Total projects: projects you’ve submitted this term

• Approved projects: projects visible to students

• Not yet approved: projects pending, in review, or rejected

• Applications: student applications across your projects

The dashboard also shows the Project review status of your submissions, your Recent applications and Recent offers, suggested Next steps, and the Term status (whether project submissions and student applications are open). Click Create project in the top right to submit a new project.

Use the menu on the left to move between Dashboard, Projects, Applications, Extended Offers, Profile, Settings, and Team.

This is your command center for participating in the Data Discovery program.