Achievement

The MCS IGERT has placed significant emphasis on developing technical communications skills in our trainees. A major achievement in this vein is the creation of a new course in Spring 2010 at Johns Hopkins called "Advanced Communication Skills for Science and Engineering" which is offered by Dr. Julie Reiser of the Professional Communications Program of Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering. The goal of the course is to help graduate students polish the kind of written and oral communications skills that are critical for succeeding in both industry and academia. It emphasizes report writing, presenting conference papers, participating in poster sessions, interviewing techniques, tailoring information to non-specialist audiences, and writing grant proposals for funding. The course is designed for IGERT trainees but is open to any graduate student who is actively involved in a research project, and the enrollment in the course was 15 students this Spring.