NSF Award
1514274
Rapidly changing scientific and economic landscapes are prompting graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, graduate programs, institutions, future employers, and the scientific community to consider more effective strategies for developing the careers of early-stage scientists. One way to promote intentional career planning is through the use of an Individual Development Plans (IDP), a document that lists short- and long-term career goals and planned actions for achieving those goals. Graduate departments that embrace IDPs will take a more comprehensive approach to career development, maximizing investments in graduate education. Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, who use effectively designed discipline-specific IDPs will be better prepared for a wider range of careers and better positioned to address complex societal challenges.<br/><br/>The proposed team will use the I-Corps L curriculum to build and test a prototype IDP toolkit for the chemical sciences, including processes, templates, and career information resources, and to develop a roadmap for scaling the prototype. Designed for iterative use, IDPs will facilitate: goal setting (long- and short-term), self-exploration (values, interests, and skills), career exploration, and identification and acquisition of needed knowledge, skills, and experience. The effective implementation of IDPs, similar to other educational innovations, requires relevant material that is conveyed using scaffolded and interactive approaches. Input from graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty in the chemical sciences, examples from other disciplines and sectors, social science research, and research on how people learn will be used to determine the desired qualities and characteristics, uses, and anticipated benefits of an IDP for the chemical sciences.
