Laboratory rotations are another major component of the
IGERT students' formal education. IGERT trainees must do
at least three laboratory rotations before choosing their
thesis supervisor.
All Life Science students do four 9-week rotations during
their first year. Physics and Chemistry students entering
the program will do two summer rotations starting in May
after their first year, of six weeks each. They will continue with
at least one rotation in the fall semester.
Rotations are especially useful in introducing students
to the methods and thinking in the disciplines different
from their own area of initial training, and to expose
students to both theoretical and experimental work.
Rotations are considered equivalent in time commitment
to two courses. Students are typically given an independent
project to work on, with the mentorship of a senior graduate
student or postdoc as well as the faculty member. Students are free to use the rotations to explore fields
that are totally new to them, in any laboratory in the
school of science. Rotations can be catalysts of change,
as rotation students moving from lab to lab can act as
"vectors of knowledge", transferring information
from one laboratory to another.
