The Story Collider is delighted to partner with Utah State University and share stories from their STEM graduate students. Join us for an evening of stories about the “learning curve”—the moments that change everything. From unexpected career-defining detours to finding the courage to speak up, discovering where you belong, and realizing you’re capable of more than you imagined, these stories explore how science and engineering can illuminate not only the world around us, but ourselves. Come for the science, stay for the heart.
Doors open at 6:00 pm MT. Show starts at 6:30 pm MT. Hosted by Bryan Kett and Kellie Vinal. Tue, Oct 27-Join us, get your “free” tickets using the links below. There is livestream available to attend the event remotely and will be provided to all registered attendees.

Scientific communication is increasingly recognized as a core area of competency for graduate students, yet many STEM programs still rely on informal mentoring rather than evidence-based approaches to developing these skills. This webinar brought together three NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) projects that are advancing the research on STEM communication while developing, testing, and evaluating scalable models for graduate education.

Presenters examined how science communication competencies can be strengthened through institution-wide science communication initiatives, systemic approaches to graduate writing instruction, and the application of cognitive theories of learning to communication training. Across the three projects, participants explored what the research reveals about how STEM graduate students develop as communicators, how institutions can create environments that support these skills, and how evidence can be used to adapt best practices within a variety of institutional settings. Attendees took home practical strategies and adaptable models for integrating communication training into graduate curricula, professional development, and institutional practice.

Many graduate programs were designed for academic career pathways that no longer reflect the realities or aspirations of today’s students. As part of its NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) project, the University of Pittsburgh developed and tested a personalized model that helps programs realign with students’ diverse career intentions, supported by a Faculty Learning Community (FLC), a shared Body of Knowledge (BoK), a robust institutional scaffolding framework, and professional development streams.

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Identify institutional barriers to implementing components of the model
  • Formulate actionable strategies to overcome these barriers

 


Download the slides from this webinar here.

Janis Bush, PI, University of Texas at San Antonio

 

Eric Vance, PI, University of Colorado Boulder

 

Diana Nicholas, CoPI, Drexel University

 

Himanshu Jain, PI, Lehigh University
Rose Marie Ward, PI, University of Cincinnati (previously Miami University)
Corrie Kuniyoshi, PI, American Chemical Society
Joerg Schlatterer, CoPI, American Chemical Society
Gundula Bosch, PI, Johns Hopkins University