professional education of graduate students
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Professional Education of Graduate Students. Roel Snieder and Tom Boyd Colorado School of Mines. Quotes. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Professional Education of Graduate Students
Roel Snieder and Tom Boyd
Colorado School of Mines
Quotes
“It amounts to this: Graduate school is professional school, but most PhD
programs badly neglect graduate students' professional development. We spend years of their training ignoring that development,
and then, only at the last moment when students are about to hit the job market, do we attend to their immediate professional
needs.”
(Cassuto, Chron. Higher Education, January 10, 2011)
Quotes
“The Institute identified a broadly articulated dissatisfaction with the attention trainees
receive. One of the principal deficits was said to be in mentoring. NIGMS asserts that training is an intentional, not incidental, endeavor, and
that the process of guidance and teaching need not diminish research productivity.”
(Draft NIH report “Investing in the future”, 2011)
4
(American Institute of Physics initial employment surveys, classes of 2007 and 2008)
What skills do you think are important for graduate students?
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)
What is the best method to gain experience?
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)
Course: The Art of Science
Taught at CSM since 2002
Attracts about 60 students/year
Required by some departments
What is science?
Yes, science is based on logic,
but it moves forward rather in fits and leaps, making ample use of intuition.
The advisor and thesis committee
Choose carefully, and develop a good working relationship.
Questions drive research
In order to find an answer, you need to know what the question is.
Time management
We set priorities
so that
circumstances and others don't make the choices for us.
Writing proposals
Know what reviewers and program managers are looking for.
Some ideas for faculty
develop a course
broaden disciplinary courses
create reading group/seminar
mentor more broadly
Student response
“The Art of Science was an eye opener for me. It made me think of my career
and my life differently. It gave me energy and ideas to restart and
continue when I am stuck.”
(Eman Yahyn Al-Juraib)
Student response
“I am glad I found this course early in my academic career. If only my university
had required faculty members to come to your class! Thank you for putting all the
things together which otherwise probably would have taken me years and many
unfortunate incidents to figure out.”
(Anonymous student at KAUST)
Teaches practical skills for doing research.
Provides a sample curriculum of a course for graduate students.
Provides clear advice on career development.
For more information:
http://www.mines.edu/~rsnieder
Course: Introduction to Research Ethics
Taught at CSM since 2010
Attracts about 60 students/year
Required for students financed by NSF
On what foundation do I build ethical principles?
What is the noble purpose of my work?
“We must learn to distinguish between purpose and meaning in life .... Purpose has something to do with being productive and setting goals and knowing what
needs to be done and doing it. It is easy to have purpose… Meaning on the other hand, depends on asking myself who will care and who will profit and
who will be touched and who will be forgotten or hurt or affected by my doing these things. Purpose
determines what I will do with this part of my life. Meaning demands to know why I'm doing it and with
what global results.” (Chittister, 1991)
What do I want to grow?
What is the noble purpose of my work?
Student response
“I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the instructors really challenged students to critically assess personal
motives for conducting their research.”
(Tom Meuzelaar)
Classes at the Colorado School of Mines
The Art of Science
Introduction to Research Ethics
Fundamental of College Teaching
Academic Publishing
Professional Oral Communication
Advanced Science Communication
Integrating into the Mines community
Current courses at CSMThe Art of Science
Fundamentals of College Teaching
Academic Publishing
Professional Oral Communication
Introduction to Research Ethics
Advanced Science Communication
Integrating into the Mines community
Center for Professional Education
cpe.mines.edu
Wish-list for courses at CSM
Negotiation
Conflict management
Budgeting (create, manage)
Leadership and management
Emotional intelligence (as a course?)
Some benefits of a Center of Professional Education
Educate more complete graduates
Advertise CSM (recruit the best students, faculty and employers)
Satisfy requirement of funding agencies
Ease the task of advising
Support synergistic activities on campus
Challenges
Achieve behavioral change
Get student/faculty buy-in
Acquire resources (time!)
Advantages for students
minimize frustration and loss of time
increase scientific output and quality
be a better collaborator
communicate research more effectively
be better prepared for job market
and … be a better scientist!
Advantages for faculty
students are more efficient
smaller workload as supervisor
attract better students
fulfill requirement of funding agencies
Advantages for sponsors
access to broadly educated graduates
use short courses for training
advertise interest in broad employees
http://cpe.mines.edu
What is the best method to gain experience?
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)