Achievement

Development and adoption of campus guidelines for working with non-traditional PhD students. Many of our Native American students are mid-career, with families and additional off-campus employment, making their profiles non-traditional for most of our PhD programs. The bioenergy IGERT leadership has crafted a framework for marshaling university resources and enhancing graduate program flexibility in order to create alternative pathways for admission and progress through a degree program. Key features of this process include meetings well before admission to get project buy in from workplace supervisors and key faculty on campus who will work serve on their dissertation committee. Graduate school involvement has expanded the impact beyond this IGERT.