Contractor Annual Report and Summary of the Cross-Site Monitoring of the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program: Final Report
Author: Martinez, Alina
Date: 2006-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Graduate Study,STEM Education,Doctoral Programs,Interdisciplinary Approach,Program Evaluation,Philanthropic Foundations,Grants,Program Effectiveness,Graduate Students,College Faculty,College Administration,Online Surveys,Interviews,Program Development

In 1998 the National Science Foundation launched the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program, a major initiative aimed at Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate education. IGERT was developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists, engineers, and educators with interdisciplinary capabilities, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills to become leaders and creative agents for change in their own careers. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education, for students, faculty, and institutions, by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. It is also intended to facilitate greater diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally engaged science and engineering workforce. The IGERT Program builds on current research on STEM graduate education, which calls for graduate programs to increase the versatility (and therefore the career options) of doctoral students, stresses the importance of interdisciplinary work, and suggests programmatic improvements (such as exposing students to a broad base of state-of-the-art research tools and methodologies, providing instruction in ethics, and fostering an international perspective). Institutions awarded an IGERT grant currently receive up to $640,000 per year, the bulk of which is distributed as traineeships to approximately 15 students each year who take part in a new interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary STEM graduate education program. This report is the third in a series of annual IGERT reports from the contracted evaluation of IGERT (OMB 3145-0812), and differs from earlier reports in that it combines findings from site visits to the first three cohorts of IGERT projects (1998, 1999, and 2000) with broader summary survey data collected from all IGERT project PIs and students (1998-2003 cohorts) through annual web-based surveys beginning in the spring of 2000 (OMB 3145-0136). The report describes the perceived impact of IGERT participation on students, faculty, and institutions, as reported through web survey responses of PIs and trainees, and through site visit interviews with students and faculty taking part in the project and with associated department chairs and university administrators. Appended are: (1) Project Characteristics; (2) Impacts on Students; (3) Impacts on Faculty; (4) Impacts on Institutions; (5) Institutionalization. [&quot;Contractor Annual Report and Summary of the Cross-Site Monitoring of the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program: Final Report&quot; was written with the assistance of Mary Ann Millsap, Jan Nicholson, Sarah Pollack, and Katheleen Linton,]