The co-curricular program plays a major role in making
the IGERT students effective members of a community of
scientists. Some of the components of this program are:
Teaching: IGERT students teach for two semesters
in science courses during their first two years of graduate
school. Brandeis' traditional programs all require this
for the Ph.D. degrees. In addition, older IGERT students
mentor younger students in the Summer Research Course.
IGERT Proseminar Course and Seminars: Developed
as part of the previous IGERT program, this student-invited
and hosted seminar proved to be highly successful. A new
Proseminar Course was instituted in which the IGERT students
have a lunch-time "Master Class" with the seminar
speakers. There are six such seminars planned for each
semester.
IGERT Retreat: An IGERT-sponsored retreat is an
invaluable mechanism for ensuring communication and developing
new collaborative ventures. The IGERT program sponsors
a yearly retreat with the following components: 1) two
eminent off-campus speakers in areas relevant to the IGERT
research programs are invited for one-hour talks; 2) all
IGERT trainees participate in a "sound-bite"
program in which they present 5-minute talks on their
work; 3) postdocs in IGERT labs present 15 minutes talks
on their work.
Broader Impact Experience: In order for all students
in the graduate programs to gain a better sense of how
science and technology interface with our culture, each
student is required to participate in a Boston-based broader
impact experience. This experience allows students to
deepen and strengthen their ability to communicate with
others, and to face people and situations that may be
foreign to them.
Recent Broader Impact activities and carried out by IGERT students include:
