Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research through IGERT: Integrative Graduate Research and Traineeship Program

Ram M. K. Ramasubramanian, PhD Program Director [email protected]

Educational Paradigms

• The challenges of educating 21st Century scientists, mathematicians, and engineers mandate a new paradigm in science and engineering graduate education.

Today’s Research Trends

• Research ◦ interdisciplinary

Work across disciplines

• Research ◦

Teamwork

collaborative • Research ◦ varied settings

Preparation for varied careers

• Research ◦ global

International activities and experiences

1.

Skills set - technical, Professional & Personal

Discovery and Innovation. Skills include fundamental research, technical training with broad intellectual content, problem-formulation and problem-solving.

2.

Intellectual Integration. Knowledge-integration skills include inter- and multidisciplinary research, systems research and real-world problems, cross intellectual boundaries, and the skills necessary to work in teams and to teach others.

3.

Knowledge Transfer. Skills encompass communication, education, and publication, together with linkages to industry and national laboratories.

Skills set-technical, Professional & Personal

4.

Tools. Skills address computational science and scientific modeling, together with language skills and knowledge of international cultures.

5. Professional Responsibility . Openness and intellectual integrity, and the values and goals appropriate for knowledge in the service of society.

IGERT Program Goals

• The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program has been developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers who will pursue careers in research and education, with the interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills to become, in their own careers, leaders and creative agents for change.

IGERT Program Goals

• The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education, for students, faculty, and institutions, by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.

IGERT Program Goals

• It is also intended to facilitate diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to a world-class, broadly inclusive, and globally engaged science and engineering workforce.

Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT)

• Dual focus on a transformative interdisciplinary research theme and an aligned innovative educational plan for US PhD students • Awards to institutions ($3-3.2M/5 years); senior PIs • Recent competitions have > 400 pre-proposals, ~20 awards (5%) • Since 1997: ◦ 240 awards ◦ 110 different lead institutions ◦ 43 states, DC, and Puerto Rico ◦ ~25 trainees/award, typically supported 2 years/each ◦ ~5,200 PhD students have been supported • Intended to catalyze sustainable institutional change in graduate education for the training of future scientific research workforce

Support Level

• 5-year awards • Up to $600K per year • Up to $200K additional in the first year for equipment, special materials, or methodologies, part of the total $600K • Additional International Training Component $50K per year for years 2-5 • Indirect limitation: 8% of total direct costs excluding equipment and COE • Graduate student stipend $30,000, Cost of education expenses $10,500 • 20 new awards anticipated for the 2010 competition.

IGERT Program Characteristics

• Interdisciplinary theme plus disciplinary depth • Emerging research area • Innovative models for graduate education • Broaden participation • Catalyze a cultural change in graduate education ◦ For graduate students ◦ For faculty ◦ For institutions

The Value of Interdisciplinary Research

• To faculty: ◦ Funding   NIH recognizes multiple PIs NSF has collaborative submission process ◦ Universities considering tenure and promotion policies • To academia: ◦ Research institutes • To industry : ◦ Practical problem-solving

Some Features of IGERT

• • • • • Encourages experiments that may result in changes of existing models for Graduate Education Emphasizes a type of Counter-Cultural Research and Education Experiment Provides a substantial increase in resources for enhanced impact Provides a framework wherein institutions, through PIs, can propose programs with enough flexibility to accommodate students’ desire to design an education plan to match his/her career goals Provides a means for program performance assessment

How do you build an IGERT?

IGERT

Dissemination of innovative education activities

Outreach

Communicate research to non-science audience Recruiting

Broadening participation

Retention Global awareness Professional skills Teamwork

Innovative, integrated education plan

Industry internships Ethics and RCR Cutting-edge, interdisciplinary, STEM research

Some IGERT Interdisciplinary Themes

• Smart sensors and integrated devices • Biosphere-atmosphere research • Molecularly designed materials • Assistive technology • Sequential decision-making • Urban ecology • Astrobiology • Alternate Energy • Nanotechnology

IGERT Proposal Characteristics

• Senior PI • Co-PI from other departments and colleges • Faculty Participants, up to 20, from various disciplines relevant to the research theme • Strong Institutional Support ◦ Not necessarily $ ◦ Institutionalization plan and support ◦ Facilitating curricular changes ◦ Strong support for broadening participation • Strong letters of support from partners

IGERT Proposal Characteristics

• Research themes and thrust areas very clearly and concisely articulated • Identification of academic preparation needed for PhD students to be successful • Strong and well thought out educational plan indicating curricular development ◦ Description of new courses and development plans ◦ Strong Mentoring plan • Attention to detail on degree requirements across disciplinary boundaries

IGERT Examples

IGERT: Marine Sustainability University of Alaska PI: Ginny Eckert Goal: Double the # of Alaskan Native PhD Graduates from UAF IGERT: Nanotechnology University of Washington PI: Marjorie Olmstead Education achievement: America’s first PhD program in Nanotechnology

Theme: Environmental Change and Implications for Humanity

Dartmouth: Polar Environmental Change George Washington University: Dynamics of Behavioral Shifts in Human Evolution: Brains, Bodies, and Ecology UCSD: Marine Biodiversity: Understanding Threats and Providing Solutions

Theme: Clean Energy and Engineering Processes

• Texas Tech University: Wind Science and Engineering University of Delaware: Sustainable Energy from Solar Hydrogen

Nanoscale Science in IGERT

• 24 active awards including 4 renewals directly focused on Nanoscale Science • Nanoscale Science in ◦ Biology ◦ Devices and machines ◦ Electronics ◦ Fabrication ◦ Laminates ◦ Materials; Biomaterials ◦ Medical ◦ Particles ◦ Pharmaceutical ◦ Photonics ◦ Probes

Universities with Nanoscale Science related IGERTs

• Cornell (3) • Drexel University • Johns Hopkins University • Northeastern University • Ohio State University • Rutgers University (3) • Tuskegee University • UC-Berkeley • UC-Los Angeles (2) • University of Massachusetts Amherst • University of New Mexico (2) • University of South Dakota • University of Texas Austin • University of Utah (2) • University of Washington • Vanderbilt University • William Marsh Rice University

Educational Features of IGERT Projects

• New curricula ◦ Interdisciplinary courses, laboratories, seminars, often team taught ◦ Student-taught interdisciplinary courses ◦ Distance learning, videoconferencing • New integrative experiences ◦ “boot camps,” workshops, retreats ◦ Team projects and teamwork exercises ◦ Student-lead and -organized meetings ◦ Laboratory rotations; co-advising • Internships ◦ Industry, national laboratory, research institute ◦ International

Further Educational Features of IGERT Projects

• Communications training ◦ K-12, general public, government • Ethics and responsible conduct of research ◦ Tailored to IGERT topic • IP, patents, business plans • Professional development • Activities for broadening participation

Examples of Nanoscale Science Courses

• Fundamental Physics and Chemistry of Nanomaterials; Interfacial Phenomena in Nanostructured Materials (Johns Hopkins U.) • Nanosystems Design for Biology and Medicine (Northeastern U.) • Nanotechnology: From Lab to Product (U. Mass Amherst) • Nanotechnology-Based Drug Delivery (Rutgers U.) • Frontiers in Nanotechnology (U. Washington) • Quantum Engineering of Nanostructures (U. Texas at Austin) • Nanoscale Materials; Molecular Modeling of Polymers and Nanocomposites (Tuskegee U.) • Imaging Nanostructures and Nanoparticles; Finite Element Analysis for Nanostructures (modules, Cornell University) • Biomedical Applications of Colloidal Nanocrystals (U. of New Mexico)

Examples of Credentials

• Certificates, minors, concentrations ◦ Certificate program in Nanotechnology (Drexel-U. Pennsylvania) ◦ Certificate program in Biomedical Science and Engineering with Concentration in Nanotechnology (U. New Mexico) ◦ Designated Emphasis in Nanoscale Science and Engineering (UC Berkeley) • Dual degree programs ◦ Home department and Nanotechnology (U. Washington) • Doctoral programs ◦ Ph.D. in Nanoscience and Microsystems (U. New Mexico)

IGERT Partnerships

• Within universities: between faculty, departments, schools, colleges • Between universities: ◦ Leverage resources ◦ Broaden participation • Outside academia ◦ National laboratories and research institutes ◦ Industry ◦ International universities and institutions • At the funding agency level ◦ IGERT is a cross-cutting program

IGERT Evaluation Study Initial Impacts

• Both IGERT and non-IGERT samples of first three cohorts (1998-2000) ◦ Graduate Students ◦ Faculty ◦ Administrators • Benefits and Challenges for All

Current Evaluation

• Next three cohorts of IGERT • Trainee post-graduation follow-up • Follow up study nearing completion. Report will be published shortly.

www.igert.org

Find Out More About IGERT

• • • • http://www.IGERT.org

◦ Searchable site maintained by grantee http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=127 59&org=DGE&from=home ◦ IGERT home page at NSF ◦ Program solicitation ◦ Video presentation http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf0617/index.jsp

◦ Impacts of IGERT evaluation http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf0840/index.jsp

◦ IGERT 2006-2007 Annual Report

Program Goals

• Graduate Students Communication, Leadership, Team building • K-12 Education Enhanced Teaching and Learning • Higher Education Transform Graduate Programs Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

Ten Year Numbers

Annual Budget

$55+

Million GK-12 has made

276

awards at

144

institutions.

Funded

5,623

Graduate Fellows.

Provided resources for

9,473

K-12 Teachers, working in

4,732

different schools.

687,594

K-12 Students have been impacted by GK-12.

Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

GK-12 Projects: National Distribution

Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

Funding Amount

Graduate Students

$30,000 Stipend $10,500 Cost of Education Participant Support (including travel)

>=70% K-12 Teachers

$5,000 stipend

$600,000

(Per Year, for 5 Years)

Indirect Costs

8% of total direct costs

External Project Evaluator

Up to 2.5% of total Direct Costs Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

Types of Institutions

Institutions Receiving Awards Location of K-12 Schools K-12 grade levels

Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

NSF Supported STEM Disciplines

Number of Fellows in Specific Disciplines (2008)

n = 865

Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)

Eligibility

Lead academic institution must be in the United States or its territories and grant masters or doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines supported by the NSF Principal Investigator(PI) must be a STEM discipline faculty member actively conducting STEM research at lead institution One proposal may be submitted per institution Institutions having an active or past GK-12 project are eligible, but must coordinate evaluation efforts; Must be a new proposal, clarify what are the differences between the new and existing or past ones Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)