Achievement

Ph.D. candidates from the IGERTs can be expected to assume leadership positions after they graduate, hence they must learn to manage groups, identify root cause issues, and plan activities that depend on participation by a team. Last summer we organized a short course on Project Planning that was taught by a consultant from industry. The students and participating faculty learned how to work in teams and how to organize projects that will involve many participants. Based on student and faculty feedback from this course, we now plan to integrate project planning into the orientation for all incoming students. We propose to use the week before classes in the fall semester to have all new IGERT fellows participate in problem solving and project planning courses. As part of the course, each student will prepare a detailed plan for their graduate education, which will help improve the time to graduation.