NSF Award
2325518
PhD training in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) programs generally includes course work, qualifying exams, and dissertation research. Each component focuses primarily on discipline-specific concepts and skills with research frequently related to an advisor’s grant. This may be ideal for students seeking tenure track faculty or independent research positions. However, the opportunities and interests of PhD graduates are increasingly broad. Recognizing the growing diversity of career outcomes warrants the need to incorporate career exploration and professional development into PhD training. Towards this goal, this National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of North Carolina will develop a model to maximize student-centered PhD training with individualized competencies, entitled “MyPhD”, which can be adopted by any STEM graduate program. MyPhD is expected to seamlessly integrate individualized, translatable skill development (e.g., leadership, communication, management) with traditionally required discipline specific competencies (e.g., scientific knowledge, technical skills, data interpretation). <br/><br/>Although some PhD programs provide opportunities for students to develop professional skills, they tend to be voluntary and extra-curricular leading to potential inequity due to the hidden curriculum of unspoken academic rules, culture, and expectations, particularly for first generation students or those from historically excluded groups. Moreover, professional skills are not formally assessed in the primary mechanisms for monitoring progress in PhD training programs such as qualifying exams, committee meetings, and the thesis/dissertation defense. As such, the traditional designs of these academic doctoral milestones seem antiquated, lack flexibility to address student career goals, and lack evidence-based support. To transform PhD training, MyPhD will develop evidence-based guidelines that facilitate the development of individualized student-centered competencies and assessments throughout a student’s doctoral training that can be customized to better match career interests. This approach is anticipated to increase retention in PhD programs, accelerate student advancement in careers post-graduation, decrease inequity in training, enhance program environments, and increase student wellbeing. The following objectives, with an initial focus on biomedical PhD programs, will help the project to achieve its goals: 1) evaluate current assessment methods for determining student progression with a focus on qualifying exams and thesis/dissertation committee practices and their relationship to program-defined competencies; 2) develop and implement student-centered and competency-based approaches to qualifying exams and directly compare the approach to current practices within multiple programs; 3) develop and implement student-centered and competency-based approaches to student evaluation by dissertation committees and directly compare the approach to current practices within multiple programs; 4) evaluate the proposed transformation by directly comparing student outcomes and student and faculty perceptions of training using current practices to the proposed MyPhD approach. <br/><br/><br/>The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
