IGE Update: NEW IGE Newsletter and Idea Lab 4 Recap

CGS has two exciting updates for the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Hub, an NSF funded network that supports communication and collaboration across NSF’s IGE grants and seeks to build connections in the broader STEM graduate education community.

New from the IGE Hub

Launching this month, the IGE Insider newsletter will feature articles about our IGE projects, useful resources and convenings in STEM graduate education. Subscribe here to so you don’t miss out on IGE news.

Idea Lab 4

In June, CGS hosted Idea Lab 4, a virtual gathering designed to help IGE Hub grantees network and learn from one another about their projects.

Idea Lab 4, Fostering and Inclusive Graduate Culture, featured the project Enhancing Diversity by Changing Institutional Culture and Scaffolding Student Success from the University of Nevada, Reno. Bridget Walsh, PI, and Markus Kemmelmeier and Loren Pietsch, both co-PIs, discussed their novel recruitment, retention and career preparedness approach for increasing the representation of first-generation college students and students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM graduate education.

Students will be engaged in two three-week summer boot camps as well as additional professional development, mentoring, and social network support activities during the first 1.5 years of graduate school. Unique elements of this project include (1) intentional development of a recruitment/retention positive feedback loop, (2) family/community involvement to enhance support groups, and (3) training in marketable skills (e.g. communication via virtual reality platforms). Outcomes from this project will generate new knowledge concerning best practices for recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented populations.

Watch their presentation to learn more about their project and their experience of implementing this program.