Students at the Center: Discovery and Innovation in …Discovery and Innovation in Graduate Education Suzanne T. Ortega President 2018 CSGS Annual Meeting February 23, 2018 @CGSGradEd
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Students at the Center: Discovery and Innovation in Graduate Education Suzanne T. Ortega President 2018 CSGS Annual Meeting February 23, 2018 @CGSGradEd
Students at the Center:Discovery and Innovation in
Graduate EducationSuzanne T. Ortega
President
2018 CSGS Annual MeetingFebruary 23, 2018
@CGSGradEd
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Grad students are at the center of research, innovation, and scholarship.
John North Hopkins
The Genesis of Roman Architecture (Yale, 2016)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Winner of the 2017 Arlt Award in the Humanities was John North Hopkins, assistant professor of art history and classical studies at Rice University. The Arlt Award is given annually to a young scholar‐teacher who has written a book deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to scholarship in the humanities. The Genesis of Roman Architecture (Yale, 2016) Hopkins’ sweeping history challenges us to rethink our very understanding of Rome. Employing both the visual and the architectural record, he demonstrates convincingly that Rome was not, or was not just, a militaristic city. Instead, in this account, we understand the long history of the “connectivity” of Rome—that commerce brought other cultures to Rome from very early in its history; that the city was always multicultural; and that, also from very early on, Rome had a place for fine arts, luxury goods, and monumental public building.
Joyce Nabisaalu
Doctoral studentDesign, Housing and Merchandising
Oklahoma State University
Presenter
Presentation Notes
As a doctoral student in Design, Housing and Merchandising at Oklahoma State University, Joyce Nabisaalu has discovered a unique new material to use in natural fiber fabrics: banana stems. Her discovery comes at an opportune time; the demand for natural fiber fabrics rises, as the production of organic cotton, the primary source for natural fabrics, steadily declines. This necessitates the search for innovative alternatives that meet or exceed cotton fabric standards. Nabisaalu’s finding began in her home country of Uganda, where bananas are a primary food source and part of at least one meal each day. The banana pseudo stems are left discarded in the fields. As Nabisaalu says, “using bananas as a channel for economic development is only practical.” The fibers derived from the banana stems are 100% organic, biodegradable, and highly sustainable. This research has the potential to grow Uganda’s economy by giving farmers another source of income. In addition to growing crops, they can learn how to extract fibers to use in fabrics. Further research is needed to improve the banana fibers physical properties, including texture, bending properties, yarn fineness, and strength, but Nabisaalu’s discovery could be a new source of economic development for largely agrarian economies all over the world.
Chad Johnston
New Techniques for Identifying and Studying Microbial Natural Products
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Winner of the 2017 CGS-ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award in Biology & Life Sciences - Chad Johnston, McMaster University Johnston developed an automated database search strategy that helps identify new antibiotics. Why new antibiotics are urgently needed: MRSA, antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis infects 2 million Americans per year, kills 23,000 (only 2 TB drugs in 70 years). After the "golden age" of discovery in the 1940s - 60s, the discovery of new strains slowed for a variety of reasons. According to several recent articles and a WHO report, lack of drug candidates is a primary bottleneck. Chad Johnston's research bypasses this problem by using computer modeling of genomic sequences to identify new strains.
Four takeaways• Graduate students are already at the center of
knowledge production• Ensuring continued opportunities for intellectual risk-
taking may require us to rethink pedagogy, policy, and funding models
• Changes to Capstone projects may both follow from and drive preparation of our future scholars and innovators
• Strategies to document the impact of graduate student discovery and innovation
Presenter
Presentation Notes
They both execute and lead research and scholarship; World Bank estimate 10% inc in international student would raise patent apps by 4.5%, univ. patent grants by 6.8% and non-university grants by 5% … and this just for international students Study in Quebec between 2000-2007 showed that PhD student contribute to a third of the publication output of providence Of course putting students at center will also require attention to student health and wellness Both thesis and dissertations Let me start with an overview of some of the Challenges Graduate Deans & Programs face in fostering preparation for late 21st century careers as scholars and innovators
Challenges for Graduate Schools• Our funding structures do not always support
independence and intellectual risk.• How will we prepare students to take productive risks?
• Our students will pursue jobs that may not yet exist.• How will we prepare students to be adaptable, lifelong learners?
• Career trajectories are becoming less linear.• How will we prepare students for the “portfolio career?”
In light of these challenges, how can graduate schools foster discovery and innovation?
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Less linear careers and scientific methods call for: Innovative pedagogies, Agility, and Design thinking. What does this mean in practice? Changes in capstone projects, and changes in the policies and funding mechanisms that support new scholarship.
Design Thinking
What am I trying to know or achieve?
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Old scientific paradigm: hypothesis, test, analyze, draw conclusions. In the world of big data, pattern recognition will play a bigger role. To avoid drowning in data, students must be able to ask question, "What is it that I'm trying to know or achieve?“ – more expansive, more interdisc doesn’t start w/known barriers but asks with if Two dimensions to Design Thinking, conceptualizing different way of think about end product different process forgetting there
Design Thinking in Practice
• Project-based assignments designed to resolve “wicked problems”• Collaborations across disciplines in areas such as water resource
management, climate change, and health
New dissertation models
New dissertation models
It’s not a matter of simply rapping. I really happen to
have a strategy being enacted.
A. D. Carson
Presenter
Presentation Notes
A. D. Carson, now an Assistant Professor of Hip Hop and the Global South at University of Virginia, submitted a 34-song rap album as his dissertation at Clemson University. Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes and Revolutions is publicly available on YouTube, and part of the project is explaining its format. From the Introduction: “’Owning My Masters’ . . . stands as evidence of the policed body, the voice that comes from the body, resisting arrest and surveillance, making itself known as that upon which law is dependent. Its evaluation and adjudication by this [or any] academic institution can be viewed as “a pushing forward” because of the tension created by its thesis and execution. Link to the video (a local news story about Carson’s dissertation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0X2xpEXbs
New dissertation models
This model is a bridge between the
traditional approach and new approaches for deaf academics.
Ellen Hibbard
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Ellen Hibbard earned a PhD in communication and culture from Ryerson University with a multimedia dissertation in American Sign Language. From a University Affairs interview: “As far as I know, I am the first in the world . . . to create a digital document of my dissertation to be hosted using video annotation software that is equipped with deaf culture navigation features. . . . I started from traditional print-centric technologies and I closed with new current modern video technologies to show academic thought and considerations for the future. This model is a bridge between the traditional approach and new approaches for deaf academics.” https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/phd-thesis-opens-new-doors-for-deaf-scholars/
New dissertation models
We make sense of the world in ways beyond
text—teaching and learning shouldn’t be
restricted to that narrow band.
Nick Sousanis
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Nick Sousanis is an assistant professor of Humanities & Liberal Studies at San Francisco State University. His dissertation from Teachers College, Columbia University, Unflattening, is a comic book. From an interview in the Paris Review: “[I]n the proposal hearing…the cohort said, ‘Don’t you think you should hedge and have a text section to explain it?’ And if I had any hesitation, that was the last time, because I said, ‘No, it’s either its own thing, or it’s not.’” https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/07/20/thinking-through-images-an-interview-with-nick-sousanis/
What do these three innovative dissertations have in common
• Invite diverse perspectives• Make scholarship more accessible
• Make innovation in the humanities more visible • Enable new modes of intellectual discourse• Enable new ways of thinking
Presenter
Presentation Notes
New dissertation models are intentional. The students that choose them do so for specific and intellectually valid reasons—it’s not just novelty for the sake of novelty. Enable new modes of intellectual discourse Innovative dissertation formats reimagine how knowledge is disseminated, how others engage with that knowledge, and who has access to it. For example, the rap dissertation is accessible to a certain kind of “expert,” but they may not fit the typical profile of an expert—may not be employed by a university, may not hold a PhD, e.g. Likewise, the ASL dissertation opens up a scholarly conversation about the deaf community and its communication, but also within the deaf community. These examples are both available on YouTube, where anyone can view and comment on them. (On the other hand, some (hearing, white) experts may not be able to fully access/understand these pieces, and the authors are saying “that’s ok!”) #5Marshall McLuhan – The Medium is the Message – opportunities the medium has to convey content but more importantly to create new communities of practice
New dissertation models:Policies
Removing roadblocks• Policies that preclude diverse formats
• (e.g., margin requirements, single authorship)
• Policies that prevent diverse viewpoints from being represented• (e.g., English-language requirements)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
These are all examples, not suggested best practices. Every institution must decide its own way forward.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Zoom in on the issue of co-authorship (NOTE for Suzanne: the ampersand represents collaboration and co-authorship, specifically the & used in APA formatting when there is more than one author). Lessons from the master’s, the EdD, and team science. MASTER’S: portfolio capstones are common; how are they evaluated and valued? EdD: multiple universities, including the University of Missouri, allow or encourage coauthored dissertations in the context of their EdD programs. Could this model hold lessons for the PhD? TEAM SCIENCE: How would pedagogy need to change; process of team or companion dissertations need to be taught, more dependent on the work of multiple authors. “for scientific articles indexed in PubMed from 1975 through 2016, the mean number of individuals listed as authors increased from 1.9 to 5.67 per article. . . . Examples of recent articles . . . include a report from the Global Burden of Disease Cancer Collaboration, with 182 individuals named as authors” (cited in Fontanarosa et al., 2017). Different publications, disciplines, and institutions are developing their own standards and guidelines for determining authorship (PLOS One, JAMA, the APA, to name a few). For example: who “counts” as an author? what distinguishes and “author” and a “contributor,” or determines author order? how to differentiate different kinds of authorship contributions? (such as the person who formulated the research goals versus the person who developed the methodology) Examples cited above: American Psychological Association. (2015). Tips for determining authorship credit. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/science/leadership/students/authorship-paper.aspx Authorship. PLOS One. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/authorship Fontanarosa, P., Bauchner, H., & Flanagin, A. (2017, Dec 26). Authorship and team science. JAMA, 318 (24): 2433 – 2437. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2667044
New dissertation models:Policies
Articulating possibilities• Explicitly allowing diverse formats, languages, co-
authorship
• Explicitly allowing different kinds of experts to serve on committees
(e.g., tribal leaders, musicians, artists)
Example: University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://cgsnet.org/future-doctoral-dissertationFuture of the Doctoral Dissertation
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Taking some of those lessons learned from the master’s space, the EdD, team science, and putting them into practice through graduate school policy. Taking some of those lessons learned from the master’s space, the EdD, team science, and putting them into practice through graduate school policy. University of Wisconsin Ad Hoc Committee on Future of the Dissertation – ten recommendations, not all of which have been adopted. Would recommend this document to you. Recs on committee size and role of outside members Programs should adopt standards for examining dissertations (inc. a sample) Req a public “performance” Collaboration and foresees what would be necessary for a fully co-authored dissertation Alternative dissertation formats Data sharing and others
Increasing impact• Requiring lay abstracts, video abstracts, or other short
forms• Requiring an epilogue or extra chapter explicitly
outlining broader impacts• Facilitating early conversations with external
audiences (e.g., scholarly press editors)
How can graduate schools demonstrate the impact of student discoveries?
Professional Development and Advocacy through the 3MT®
Using the 3MT® for Advocacy
• Identify inspiring stories through student participation
• Strengthen the voices of students as advocates• Invite the entire community to participate• Share highlights through social media and print
outlets• Engage business leaders, alumni and local/state
policymakers as judges
Presenter
Presentation Notes
In his presentation for the pre-meeting workshop on storytelling, Steve Matson spoke about “surfacing stories” through programs like the 3MT. The 3MT is a great way to learn more about your compelling student stories as well as student research.
Tell Your Story via GradImpact
http://cgsnet.org/grad-impact
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Program highlights student and alumni innovations at both the master’s and doctoral level Rationale: going beyond the “private” benefits of graduate education to demonstrate public value. GradImpact can extend the “reach” of your advocacy Students and families appreciate the national recognition We will begin collecting info on student hometown & push stories out to hometown newspapers