Professional Education of
Graduate Students
Roel Snieder and Tom Boyd
Colorado School of Mines
Quotes
“It amounts to this: Graduate school is
professional school, but most PhD
programs badly neglect graduate students'
professional development. We spend years
of their training ignoring that development,
and then, only at the last moment when
students are about to hit the job market, do
we attend to their immediate professional
needs.”
(Cassuto, Chron. Higher Education, January 10, 2011)
Quotes
“The Institute identified a broadly articulated
dissatisfaction with the attention trainees
receive. One of the principal deficits was said
to be in mentoring. NIGMS asserts that training
is an intentional, not incidental, endeavor, and
that the process of guidance and teaching
need not diminish research productivity.”
(Draft NIH report “Investing in the future”, 2011)
4
(American Institute of Physics initial employment surveys,
classes of 2007 and 2008)
What skills do you think are
important for graduate students?
Topic
“Very Unimportant” or
“Unimportant”
“Important” or “Very
Important”
Professional writing
3%
97%
Oral communication
5%
95%
Conflict resolution
16%
84%
Negotiation
12%
88%
Multicultural issues
25%
75%
Ethics
10%
90%
Leadership
10%
90%
Literature survey
20%
80%
Teamwork
7%
93%
All skills
12%
88%
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)
What is the best method to gain
experience?
Topic
Classes, courses,
seminars or workshops
Advisor
Professional writing
94%
6%
Oral communication
90%
10%
Conflict resolution
87%
13%
Negotiation
81%
19%
Multicultural issues
95%
5%
Ethics
87%
13%
Leadership
93%
7%
Literature survey
81%
19%
Teamwork
93%
7%
All skills
89%
11%
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)
Course: The Art of Science
Taught at CSM since 2002
Attracts about 60 students/year
Required by some departments
What is science?
Yes, science is based on logic,
but it moves forward rather in fits and
leaps, making ample use of intuition.
The advisor and thesis committee
Choose carefully, and develop a good
working relationship.
Questions drive research
In order to find an answer, you need to
know what the question is.
Time management
We set priorities
so that
circumstances and others don't make
the choices for us.
Writing proposals
Know what reviewers and program
managers are looking for.
Some ideas for faculty
develop a course
broaden disciplinary courses
create reading group/seminar
mentor more broadly
Student response
“The Art of Science was an eye opener
for me. It made me think of my career
and my life differently. It gave me
energy and ideas to restart and
continue when I am stuck.”
(Eman Yahyn Al-Juraib)
Student response
“I am glad I found this course early in my
academic career. If only my university
had required faculty members to come to
your class! Thank you for putting all the
things together which otherwise probably
would have taken me years and many
unfortunate incidents to figure out.”
(Anonymous student at KAUST)
Teaches practical skills for doing
research.
Provides a sample curriculum of
a course for graduate students.
Provides clear advice on career
development.
For more information:
http://www.mines.edu/~rsnieder
Course: Introduction to
Research Ethics
Taught at CSM since 2010
Attracts about 60 students/year
Required for students financed by NSF
On what foundation do I build
ethical principles?
What is the noble purpose of
my work?
“We must learn to distinguish between purpose and
meaning in life .... Purpose has something to do with
being productive and setting goals and knowing what
needs to be done and doing it. It is easy to have
purpose… Meaning on the other hand, depends on
asking myself who will care and who will profit and
who will be touched and who will be forgotten or hurt
or affected by my doing these things. Purpose
determines what I will do with this part of my life.
Meaning demands to know why I'm doing it and with
what global results.” (Chittister, 1991)
What do I want to grow?
What is the noble purpose of
my work?
Student response
“I was pleasantly surprised to discover
that the instructors really challenged
students to critically assess personal
motives for conducting their research.”
(Tom Meuzelaar)
Classes at the
Colorado School of Mines
The Art of Science
Introduction to Research Ethics
Fundamental of College Teaching
Academic Publishing
Professional Oral Communication
Advanced Science Communication
Integrating into the Mines community
Current courses at CSM
The Art of Science
Fundamentals of College Teaching
Academic Publishing
Professional Oral Communication
Introduction to Research Ethics
Advanced Science Communication
Integrating into the Mines community
Center for Professional Education
cpe.mines.edu
Wish-list for courses at CSM
Negotiation
Conflict management
Budgeting (create, manage)
Leadership and management
Emotional intelligence (as a course?)
Some benefits of a Center of
Professional Education
Educate more complete graduates
Advertise CSM (recruit the best
students, faculty and employers)
Satisfy requirement of funding agencies
Ease the task of advising
Support synergistic activities on campus
Challenges
Achieve behavioral change
Get student/faculty buy-in
Acquire resources (time!)
Advantages for students
minimize frustration and loss of time
increase scientific output and quality
be a better collaborator
communicate research more effectively
be better prepared for job market
and … be a better scientist!
Advantages for faculty
students are more efficient
smaller workload as supervisor
attract better students
fulfill requirement of funding agencies
Questions, comments?
Roel Snieder
rsnieder@mines.edu
www.mines.edu/~rsnieder
Advantages for sponsors
access to broadly educated graduates
use short courses for training
advertise interest in broad employees
http://cpe.mines.edu
What is the best method to gain
experience?
Topic
Special
classes
Regular
courses
Seminar,
workshops
Advisor
interaction
Professional writing
26%
45%
17%
6%
Oral communication
21%
43%
20%
10%
Conflict resolution
10%
13%
46%
13%
Negotiation
10%
12%
45%
19%
Multicultural issues
7%
21%
46%
5%
Ethics
15%
30%
35%
13%
Leadership
8%
20%
53%
7%
Literature survey
15%
38%
20%
19%
Teamwork
3%
50%
31%
7%
All skills
12%
30%
35%
11%
(From a survey among 155 graduate students at CSM)