Grad News Forum

The Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL) held a celebratory lunch on Wednesday, April 10th to congratulate ten graduate students nominated as Outstanding Graduate Student Teachers. The nominees were selected by undergraduate students who felt that their TAs/instructors had gone above and beyond their responsibilities. The nominations and lunch were part of the annual Graduate Appreciation Week.

Working as a teaching assistant is one of the most rewarding, and oftentimes challenging, aspects of graduate school. Being a TA offers the opportunity to learn pedagogical techniques, such as lesson planning and testing strategies, from professors. TAs are in a unique position in that they act as a bridge between students and professors. TAs are therefore able to learn from undergraduates which pedagogical techniques work well.

“I think TAing is an excellent opportunity to ‘grow’ as a person. It makes me more responsible, as I am the person students refer to if they have any problems. TAing makes me see the same issue from different perspectives and appreciate that a problem may be faced and solved in different ways,” said Stefano Poggio from the Department of Chemistry, who was nominated by students from his Chemistry 6 class.

Despite the challenges, these TAs clearly excelled in their role. “He is an excellent teacher, going far beyond any other TA or professor that I have had in terms of his availability outside of class, willingness to discuss and explain the material individually to students, and quality of lectures,” said one undergrad of their TA. “[She] is one of the kindest, more enthusiastic people I know,” said another. Enthusiasm, passion for science, and patience were commonly cited as qualities of the outstanding TAs.

Dr. Cindy Tobery from DCAL hosted the lunch, at which graduate students and undergraduates were able to share classroom experiences and teaching techniques.  Because the graduate students came from very different academic backgrounds, they were able to share diverse opinions on teaching and life as a graduate student. Dr. Tobery noted, “I am always impressed that undergrads take the time to nominate a grad student for this award. Sometimes many students from a class work together to nominate their TA. I think this is a nice way to include undergraduates in Grad Student Appreciation Week.”

“Receiving this award was such unexpected news! I was so touched and honored! Mentoring students is always such a great experience for me, and it is very rewarding to know that the students think that I do a good job!” said Ramsa Chaves-Ulloa from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program.

The 2013 nominees for Outstanding Graduate Student Teachers from an undergraduate perspective were Julia Bradley-Cook, Ramsa Chaves-Ulloa and Zak Gezon from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program, Zeb Engberg and Zachary Evans from the Mathematics Department, Deqing Li from the Thayer School of Engineering, Stefano Poggio from the Department of Chemistry, Anna Prescott and Alex Schlegel from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Damian Sowinski from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Congratulations and keep up the good work, TAs!

by Zak Gezon

photo courtesy of Alex Schlegel

The Graduate-Undergraduate (G-U) Mentoring Program was officially launched on April 4^th, 2013 with a kick-off event co-sponsored by Dartmouth Graduate Studies and Career Services.

The launch event was hosted at the Career Services office in downtown Hanover and began with an introduction of the Mentoring Program by graduate students, Max Mehlman and Marie Onakomaiya. A panel discussion followed with Thayer professor, Dr. Kofi Odame and five graduate students (Stela Celaj, Max Mehlman, Erin O’Malley, Elizabeth Sergison, and Jeremy Thompson), who answered questions from the 30 undergraduates who attended the event. The final session was the meet-a-mentor breakout session, during which undergrads could mingle and talk one-on-one with graduate students in their field of interest.

Almost a year in the making, the idea for the Mentoring Program came from a conversation in the spring of 2012 between Onakomaiya, a PhD student in the Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine, and Jessica Friedman of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. Friedman highlighted the need to connect Dartmouth undergraduates interested in graduate school with graduate students, so they could experience what graduate school is like. Unless they do undergraduate research in a lab or an honors thesis with a professor, students do not get to experience what it is like to go to grad school until they begin. This conversation led to the initial concept of a day of shadowing grad students.

Through collaboration with Mehlman, a PhD student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS), Anna Prescott and Aarathi Prasad of the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) group, and Kathy Weaver, the assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Research, the program evolved into more than just shadowing. A summer pilot was set up, and through announcements in the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Gazetteer, graduate students were recruited to be “low-pressure” mentors to undergraduate students in the Women in Science Program (WISP). Over 40 graduate students signed up to be mentors within a month of recruiting—an indication of the enthusiasm of graduate students to help the Dartmouth community fill this gap.

After the summer pilot, the feedback from the 18 participants was largely positive. One undergraduate, Holly Wakeman, said of the program “I found the program very helpful! I’m an undergrad considering applying to grad school, and I met with several mentors to talk about how and when to apply, their experiences, and my interests. While I’m not still in contact with most of the mentors I met with, it was a very valuable experience and really helped me to better understand what I’d like to do and how to get there!”

Through the fall and winter terms, Mehlman and Onakomaiya re-evaluated the program and worked on how to launch it campus-wide. Weaver connected them with key people in offices across campus involved in undergraduate-graduate education, including the Undergraduate Deans Office, Pre-Health Advising, Graduate Studies, and Career Services, among others. They also pitched the program to professors in different departments and schools on campus, who recognized the need and potential of the program. There was overwhelming support from all corners.

The program is designed to be self-sustaining. Undergrads are given access to a list of graduate students interested in being mentors, including their contact information and a short description of their graduate work and other expertise. The graduate students are available for questions over email and/or coffee, or to be shadowed, giving some flexibility to all concerned.

In the future, there are plans to receive quarterly mentor feedback and to set up a yearly mentor training session to provide support to the graduate mentors and help them be better mentors, as well as to re-assess the success of the program. Overall, the Mentoring Program is providing a direct way for undergraduates to learn more about graduate school, and has in the same turn provided a mentoring opportunity for Dartmouth graduate students.

The Mentoring Program is always recruiting new mentors. Graduate students interested in being mentors can e-mail either Mehlman or Onakomaiya. Undergraduate students interested in learning more about grad school can visit the Graduate-Undergraduate Mentoring Program website to connect with a mentor.

by Marie Onakomaiya

With the last group of fellows arriving on campus this fall, one might think things are winding down for Dartmouth’s IGERT program. But in reality, research and collaboration are starting to truly cook now that all of the fellows are on campus.

IGERT students and faculty members are seen on their research trip near the west coast of Greenland. (Photo by Alexandra Giese)

“We’re really starting to move rapidly,” says Ross Virginia, the Myers Family Professor of Environmental Science and the director of Dartmouth’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program. As IGERT connects research to real world problems, Virginia says, “we’re trying to communicate science in insightful and meaningful ways.”

The program, which studies polar environmental change and supports Arctic research, is funded by a $3 million National Science Foundation grant. Since 2010, the program has facilitated collaboration across departments, conducted research in Greenland, and talked about climate change with diverse audiences—starting a conversation that’s expected to last for years.

IGERT provides two years of funding for PhD students at $30,000 per year. There are a total of 24 fellows—from the fields of engineering, ecology and evolutionary biology, and earth sciences—that connect through IGERT while working toward degrees in their home departments. Fellows take two IGERT core courses, which are taught by professors from different disciplines, and a five-week summer research trip to Greenland that serves as a capstone experience during their first year.

For full article, go to Dartmouth Now

This past spring, Thayer awarded fourteen MS and seven PhD degrees, and this fall Thayer accepted five new students into the PhD Innovation Program.

Thayer completed a $60 million fundraising campaign which will help to enhance our programs, and with professors Ian Baker and Keith Paulsen working as co-directors, Dartmouth was designated as a Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) with a $12.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Project leaders on the grant include engineering professors Gerngross, Pogue, and Griswold.

Professor Olfati-Saber received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Two Thayer-founded companies won GE’s Ecomagination Challenge, IceCode founded by Professor Petrenko, and SustainX founded by Professor Hutchinson and three PhD graduates, Dax Kepshire Th’06, Ben Bollinger Th’04, and Troy McBride Th’01. In addition, professors Sullivan and Levey were awarded green-technology grants from DoE.

Professor Hartov was appointed director of MS and PhD programs, filling the shoes of Ursula Gibson, who accepted a new position at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Meanwhile, we welcomed several new faculty members, including Margaret Ackerman, Eric Fossum, Michael Gerst, Venkat Krishnaswamy, Jifeng Liu, and Vicky May.

Currently, several PhD candidates are participating in Dartmouth’s new Polar Environmental Change program, offered through a grant by NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. Thayer congratulates Kristen Louise Lurie D’08 Th’08 and Renee Nicole Cottle D’07 Th’09, who were both awarded 2010 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Finally, Broc Burke, MD/PhD candidate, was selected as a 2010-11 Schweitzer Fellow, and MS candidate Jonathan Guerrette, along with Devon Anderson and Nathan Niparko, won the 2nd Prize in the 2010 Collegiate Inventors Competition.

By Catharine Lamm

Photograph: Thayer Innovation Fellows; From left to right: Steven Reinitz, Alicia Petryk, Matthew Pallone, Geneva Trotter, Regina Salvat.

Photo: Kathryn LoConte