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Program Description Text: Proposals submitted to the IGERT program must be integrative, research-based, graduate education and training activities in emerging areas of science and engineering. The IGERT project should be organized around an interdisciplinary theme involving a diverse group of faculty members and other investigators with appropriate expertise in research and teaching. The interdisciplinary theme provides a framework for integrating research and education and for promoting collaborative efforts within and across departments and institutions. Students should gain the breadth of skills, strengths, and understanding to work in an interdisciplinary environment while being well grounded with depth of knowledge in a major field. As an opportunity for faculty to experiment with new approaches to graduate education, the IGERT project should provide students with experience relevant to both academic and nonacademic careers. This may involve such activities as internships and mentoring in industrial, national laboratory, academic, or other settings. Globalization of research and career opportunities places importance on providing students with an international perspective. This may be gained through programs within the institution, or through strongly integrated, collaborative research experiences and/or fieldwork at foreign institutions and sites. The graduate experience should contribute to the professional and personal development of the students and equip them to understand and integrate scientific, technical, business, social, ethical, and policy issues to confront the challenging problems of the future.
The IGERT project may draw upon investigators from one or more academic departments within a single institution or from more than one institution. The primary emphasis should be on integrative, innovative approaches to education and training of doctoral students. Participation of individuals at the undergraduate, masters, and postdoctoral levels may be included if such participation clearly strengthens the doctoral program. All stipend recipients supported by IGERT funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S., its territories or its possessions. However, individuals, including foreign students, who are supported by other sources of funds may participate as IGERT associates. In contributing to a diverse science and engineering workforce for the future, the IGERT project should include strategies for recruitment, mentoring, and retention aimed at members of groups underrepresented in science and engineering, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities.
Features of IGERT Projects
IGERT projects are expected to incorporate and integrate the following features:
A comprehensive interdisciplinary theme, appropriate for doctoral-level research, that serves as the foundation for traineeship activities;
Integration of the interdisciplinary research with innovative graduate education and training mechanisms, curricula enhancement, and other educational features that foster strong interactions among participating students and faculty;
An environment that exposes students to a broad base of state-of-the-art research instruments and equipment and educational tools and methodologies;
Career development opportunities, provision for developing professional and personal skills, fostering an international perspective, and instruction in ethics and the responsible conduct of research;
Program strategy and plan for recruitment, mentoring, retention, and graduation of U.S. graduate students, including efforts aimed at members of groups underrepresented in science and engineering;
Strategy and methodology for formative assessments of the project’s effectiveness by individuals internal and external to the institution and program improvements based on these assessments;
Administrative plan and organizational structure that ensures effective management of the project resources;
Plan for dissemination of innovative graduate education activities both within and outside the institution; and
Institutional commitment to facilitating and furthering the plans and goals of the IGERT project, to creating a supportive environment for integrative research and education, and to institutionalizing the successful elements of the project after NSF funding ends.
Principal Investigator
The Principal Investigator (PI) shall be the Director of the IGERT project and is expected to be an essential participant in its educational and research activities. The PI will have overall responsibility for administration of the award, management of the project, and interactions with the NSF.
Two-Stage IGERT Competition
Proposers for new and renewal IGERT projects compete in a two-stage process. In the first stage, all proposers must submit a preliminary proposal (preproposal) that outlines the planned IGERT project. In the second stage, based on panel review of the preliminary proposals, successful proposers will be invited to submit full proposals. Only those proposers invited to submit full proposals may do so, consistent with the institutional limitations discussed in Section III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION (below). For renewal proposals, site visits may be conducted as part of the review process.
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