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| What is IGERT? |
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| IGERT is an agency-wide program of the National Science
Foundation (NSF). The acronym stands for Integrative Graduate
Education and Research Training. According to NSF's former Assistant
Director of Education and Human Resources, Luther Williams: "IGERT is
the first NSF program to demonstrate concretely NSF's strategic goal to
integrate education and research at the graduate level." |
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| By incorporating new education models and encouraging a
more intensive focus on collaborative research training in an
environment that goes beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, IGERT
seeks to educate the scientists, engineers, and educators of
tomorrow—providing them with in-depth knowledge in their chosen
disciplines, comprehensive interdisciplinary training, and the
technical, professional, and personal skills required to become career
leaders and creative agents for change. The program acts as a catalyst
for cultural change in graduate education, encouraging a greater
diversity of student participation and preparation, thus contributing to
the development of a diverse, globally-engaged workforce of scientists
and engineers. |
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| Why change the way graduate students are educated? |
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| In their 1995 report, “Reshaping the Graduate Education
of Scientists and Engineers,” the National Academy of Science’s
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy noted the need to
repair what they call the “misalignment” between how graduate students
are trained and what potential employers are looking for in an employee.
U.S. graduate schools of science and engineering are “important not only
as sources of future leaders in science and engineering, but also as an
indispensable underpinning of national strength and
prosperity—sustaining the creativity and intellectual vigor needed to
address a growing range of social and economic concerns.” Advanced
degree holders, they go on to say, play a central and growing role in
American industrial and commercial life and are responsible for the
economic and industrial well being of the nation. It all begins with the
education of students (http://books.nap.edu/catalog/4935.html). |
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| So a major goal of IGERT is to ensure that the
education of science and engineering students at the graduate level is
of a caliber that will propel these graduates and the companies and
institutions that they will represent into the new century—further
bolstering the strength of industry and the nation as a whole. It all
begins with the students. And these students will be better educated and
prepared to face the challenges of tomorrow if the proper university
programs are in place, programs that provide them with the proper tools
they need to demonstrate competency in the fast-paced, technological
arena. IGERT strives, through its support, to provide institutions
across the country with the resources required to start and enhance
these types of programs. |
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| As time passes it is becoming more and more evident
that, in addition to being astute in a chosen discipline, those holding
advanced degree must also be prepared to address intellectual issues
that transcend disciplinary boundaries. A great percentage of pioneering
research and technology is to be found at the interdisciplinary level,
at the interfaces of traditional disciplines. This being said, students
in IGERT-supported programs not only learn to be proficient in a chosen
discipline, but in multiple disciplines that are interrelated to the
chosen discipline. Through coursework, research experience and an
intense focus on career development, IGERT students will come away from
their upper-level education experience with an in-depth,
multi-disciplinary education, complete with competent communication and
team work skills, a comprehensive knowledge of modern instrumentation,
responsible, professional research skills and a sense of
interdisciplinary awareness at the national and international levels. |
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| The IGERT investment is an attempt to develop
educational models toward this end, by directly focusing on the
integration of education and research. Resulting programs will offer
experiences relevant to both academic and non-academic careers by
linking graduate research with research in industry, national
laboratories and other non-academic settings. Through collaborations
between academe and industry, graduate students in IGERT-funded programs
will be well-positioned to take the lead in mastering the
multi-disciplinary challenges of the future. |
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| To learn more about NSF’s IGERT program, please visit
their website at
http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/igert/start.htm. |
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