The ultimate goal of the IGERT programs should be to graduate PhDs with experiences that both span boundaries and dig deeply in several areas, so as to meet the career demands of relentless change in trends, tools, technology, and tasks. To this end, at Rutgers, we will provide three major "experiential" pathways to IGERT fellows. Such career-preparatory research-integrated experiences can give the students a "head start" in developing appreciation for the "context" of the IGERT research thrusts.