Supporting Graduate Science Education at the Academy
Academy conferences not only provide graduate students and post-doctoral associates an opportunity to network and share their research, they can also provide an alternative perspective on the duties of scientists.
Published December 1, 2010
By Adrienne Burke
Academy Contributor
For nearly five years, The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) has been nurturing the next generation of scientists with a special program that provides professional development opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The Science Alliance is a consortium of more than 35 universities, teaching hospitals, and independent research facilities committed to advancing the careers of students and postdocs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Serving more than 6,500 junior scientists worldwide, the Alliance provides programs and services focused on career education, development, and training. In addition to giving students access to all of the traditional benefits of Academy membership, Science Alliance offers exclusive live events, webinars, and a dedicated website as well as unparalleled opportunities for students to learn and network with individuals across institutions and disciplines, including many highly accomplished members.
Now, two Academy programs for physicists and chemists are also getting students involved in all aspects of planning, hosting, and presenting scientific meetings. The meetings are designed to provide graduate students and postdocs in the field of condensed matter physics a chance to forge new research collaborations.
One program is the “Gotham-Metro Condensed Matter Meeting.” An inaugural event held in April 2009, and a second one held in November that drew 130 participants for a full day of lectures and poster presentations, were entirely run by graduate students and post-docs. A council of faculty-nominated graduate students from New York area universities developed content, invited speakers, and hosted the meeting at the Academy. The meetings will now be held once per semester.
An Alternative Perspective
Rebecca Flint, 28, a sixth-year hard-condensed-matter theory graduate student at Rutgers University, was handpicked by her advisor, Academy member Piers Coleman, to sit on the student steering committee for the Gotham-Metro group. She says her involvement in meetings planning has given her an alternate perspective on the duties of a professor. “As a graduate student you mostly do research; I’m not even teaching. You get a view of just one side of what it’s like to be a professor,” says Flint, who aspires to run her own lab after completing her PhD next year. “It’s interesting to see what else you need to think about, and it’s nice to get a view of something other than research.”
Another way the Academy is nurturing graduate students is through involving them as members of a student steering committee for the Academy’s Soft Materials Discussion Group. The group, headed by a faculty steering committee, regularly convenes investigators in the New York region with an interest in soft materials research and development, and provides a forum for exchanging ideas and news of recent advances among scientists, engineers, and other key stakeholders working in academia, industry, and non-for-profit entities. Now, six graduate students from City College, New York University, Queens College, Columbia University, and the College of Staten Island have joined with a faculty committee to select topics and choose speakers for meetings.
“The idea is to empower graduate students—provide them with opportunities for professional development and a chance to critically judge their own contributions and those of their peers,” says Heidi Perry, the Academy’s Program Manager for Physical Sciences, Engineering & Sustainability Initiatives.
Also read: Non-STEM Skills Give an Edge to STEM Professionals
