Achievement

The IGERT program organized the first of its annual 'Winter Storm' intensive 2-week workshops in January 2009, before the start of the UM spring semester. Winter Storm ran from 9am-4pm every day, with activities that included mini-courses, interdisciplinary research focus groups, research talks by faculty, and hands-on skills workshops. Almost all activities were substantially student led. Around 30 students and faculty participated. A particularly well-received component of Winter Storm was a course on the data analysis environment 'R', which met every morning and was led primarily by a pair of students in the IGERT program (Pedro Alcocer and Brian Dillon). It was highly beneficial for student participants and student instructors alike. It served as a catalyst for new interaction between students, and helped to create common ground for students who are otherwise working on quite different problems. This course serves as a model for similar events in future years.