ERIC Number: ED546123
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Feb
Pages: 221
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Evaluation of the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT): Follow-Up Study of IGERT Graduates. Final Report
Carney, Jennifer; Martinez, Alina; Dreier, John; Neishi, Kristen; Parsad, Amanda
Abt Associates
The National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program supports students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields who participate in university-developed interdisciplinary graduate training experiences. Faculty members at each IGERT site develop a series of education and research activities in which students and faculty from multiple departments participate. Activities are centered on an interdisciplinary theme and commonly include multidisciplinary research collaborations, cross-departmental lab rotations, interdisciplinary seminars, team-taught courses, and/or off-campus internships. Most IGERT students enroll in a single-discipline PhD program and participate in IGERT in addition to their regular departmental experiences. This report presents the findings from the "IGERT Graduates Follow-Up Study," which was designed to investigate the short-term professional outcomes of IGERT graduates and to assess whether IGERT-funded graduate students are prepared for successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related careers and have developed the requisite research, teaching, and leadership capacities. It also explores how IGERT graduates have fared in their early careers, one to eight years postgraduation, relative to their counterparts trained through more traditional single-discipline programs. The findings from this study illustrate the interdisciplinary environment in which STEM graduates currently work, the alignment between IGERT graduate training and the STEM workforce, and the role IGERT graduates are playing in advancing a more interdisciplinary approach to research and in training the next generation of STEM scholars and researchers. Five appendices include: (1) Samples, Data Collection, and Weighting; (2) Selected Data Tables; (3) STEM Discipline Mapping; (4) Survey of Graduates; and (5) Interview Protocol. [This report was prepared with the assistance of: Beth Gamse, Meredith Beck, Grace Chang, Daphne Garcia, Barbara Lovitts, Tom McCall, Jan Nicholson, Satyendra Patrabansh, Mylene San Gabriel, Jonathan Spader, Chris Rodgers, and Daniel Smith.]
Descriptors: Graduate Students, Graduate Study, College Faculty, Interdisciplinary Approach, Learning Activities, Internship Programs, Seminars, Team Teaching, Outcomes of Education, Career Readiness, Graduate Surveys, Interviews, Student Characteristics, Labor Force, Comparative Analysis, Research, Training
Abt Associates. 4550 Montgomery Avenue Suite 800 North, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-347-5000; Fax: 301-634-1801; Web site: http://abtassociates.com
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Authoring Institution: Abt Associates, Inc.
Grant or Contract Numbers: GS-10F-0086K