Whitepapers and IGERT Hubs
Twice a year, the IGERT GTF's will be given the opportunity to present their research in the IGERT community at large. To allow this, the IGERT program will host academic roundtables to facilitate student presentation of research progress, followed by a panel discussion of the issues involved in "professional growth" by IGERT fellows. Every other roundtable will operate on a "local" tier, which involves the advisors representing each research project, their participating GTFs, and other interested postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate researchers associated with the investigator's research groups. We expect this group to enlarge when the IGERT effort matures. During the local roundtable, the project investigators will present introductory remarks addressing the significance, motivation, and scope of the research problems, which will be followed by progress reports to be presented by individual student fellows. The GSE staff will actively observe and digitally record portions of the student presentations, the question-and-answer sessions, and the panel discussions. Following the meeting, the GSE staff will meet the fellows individually and provide feedback to improve their presentation skills. Thus, on a local tier, the meetings will foster the creation of a "hub" of research communication among faculty participants from the IGERT and generate feedback within local "clusters".
Through the involvement of the Teaching/Learning specialists and direct exposure to "effective learning workshops", the GTFs will be encouraged to communicate effectively at the roundtables and "cross-fertilize" ideas, thus contributing to the emergence of a dynamic community of scholars and practitioners. The community will be expanded when the GTFs present their research results at a national or international meeting by the end of their third year of graduate studies. As a result of their participation at these major meetings, GTFs will be required to prepare a 'white paper' for evaluation by the IGERT Student Progress committee. The white paper will contain (a) review of the scope of an emerging frontier in the field of stem cells; (b) a review of the enabling, new technologies in the area; (c) identification of new opportunities for research and intellectual properties. The strong white paper document is expected to be an analysis of the retrospective and ongoing efforts in academia along with a prospective view into the promising directions for the near future. In this sense, the 'white papers' will be the basis for seed research projects and nucleating growth areas in the IGERT thrusts. The white papers will be scored on 100 points, with 20 points each allocated to: (a) clarity of review; (b) presentation and organization; (c) depth of analysis; (d) connectivity to IGERT research; and (e) vision document. The white papers will be included as an important part of the Fellows' PhD theses.
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