NSF grants recognize integrative innovation in graduate education

A UW–Madison professor is one of 17 researchers across the country who have received a total of $40.5 million over five years to promote integrative graduate education and research training.

Peter Nowak, professor of rural sociology at UW–Madison, has been awarded one of the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grants. His award totals $2.6 million.

The grants are intended to produce a diverse group of engineers and scientists well-prepared for a broad spectrum of emerging career opportunities in industry, government and academe. The IGERT grants will provide students with an in-depth, multidisciplinary education through coursework and research experience. In addition, career development will be emphasized by the high priority placed on students’ communication and teamwork skills, experience with modern instrumentation, responsible conduct of research and international awareness.

Nowak’s project at UW–Madison will focus on how humans influence water and how water influences humans. “We will draw students from different disciplines on campus to work in an interdisciplinary setting in order to solve complex environmental problems,” says Nowak.

“A new pedagogical approach is needed to meet the needs of tomorrow’s Ph.D.s,” said NSF Acting Deputy Director Joseph Bordogna.

“As well as being astute in a discipline, they must also be prepared to address intellectual issues that transcend disciplinary boundaries, since much new knowledge is increasingly created at the interfaces of traditional disciplines. The IGERT investment is an attempt to develop educational models toward this end, with a direct focus on the integration of education and research.”

The resulting programs will also offer experiences relevant to both academic and non-academic careers by linking graduate research with research in industry, national laboratories and other nonacademic settings.

NSF’s assistant director of education and human resources, Luther Williams, described the agencywide program as being consistent with NSF’s overall education agenda to encourage change at all levels of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education.

“IGERT is the first NSF program to demonstrate concretely NSF’s strategic goal to integrate education and research at the graduate level, consistent with the National Science Board’s commitment,” Williams noted of the Board’s recent recommendation on graduate education.

“Further, through collaborations between academe and industry, graduates will be well-positioned to take the lead in facing multidisciplinary challenges of the future,” he said.

IGERT also responds to recommendations of the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), whose 1995 report, Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers, advised repairing the “misalignment” between how graduate students are trained and what employers seek. COSEPUP identified communication and teamwork skills, multidisciplinary and applied research experience, and adaptability as essential elements in training.