GRA Resources

Integration and Implementation Insights

Integration and Implementation Insights (also known as i2Insights) is a community weblog for sharing methods, frameworks, processes, concepts, theories and competencies to better understand and act on complex societal and environmental problems (problems like refugee crises, global climate change, and inequality).

National Science Digital Library

The National Science Digital Library provides high quality online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines—both formal and informal, institutional and individual, in local, state, national, and international educational settings. The NSDL collection contains structured descriptive information (metadata) about web-based educational resources held on other sites by their providers. These providers have contribute this metadata to NSDL for organized search and open access to educational resources via this website and its services.

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) works in cooperation with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program to build and advance the informal STEM education field. We do this by providing infrastructure, resources, and connectivity for educators, researchers, evaluators, and other interested stakeholders.  At our website, InformalScience.org, you will find over 8,000 resources, including project descriptions, research literature, evaluation reports, and other documents related to quality, evidence-based informal STEM learning work supported by a diversity of federal, local, and private funders.

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL)

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) seeks to enhance excellence in STEM undergraduate education through development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices for diverse learners. CIRTL was founded in 2003 as a National Science Foundation Center for Learning and Teaching in higher education. CIRTL uses graduate education as the leverage point to develop a national STEM faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences as part of successful professional careers. The goal of CIRTL is to improve the STEM learning of all students at every college and university, and thereby to increase the diversity in STEM fields and the STEM literacy of the nation.

Science Communication Online Programme

SCOPE (Science Communication Online Programme) is an introduction to effective science communication designed for STEM graduate students. This NSF-funded resource is free and created for those who don’t have access to live, in-person science communication training.

ASU CareerWISE

CareerWISE helps women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs find ways to better manage the challenges in their immediate environments and expand personal skills for thriving in their future career environments. The CareerWISE resource is an individualized online program that pairs empirically based pedagogical content with an interactive simulated environment that provides users with practice opportunities. It is the first program of its kind to provide systematic training in interpersonal communication skills customized for female students in STEM. The program is built on an extensive foundation of theory and research on psychological processes, environmental context, and personal behaviors that contribute to women’s experiences in academic and career paths.

MyIDP SCIENCE CAREERS

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) concept is commonly used in industry to help employees define and pursue their career goals.  In 2003, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) proposed an IDP framework for postdoctoral fellows in the sciences.  Expanding on that framework, myIDP is a unique, web-based career-planning tool tailored to meet the needs of PhD students and postdocs in the sciences.

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

Founded in 2010, the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students.  The NCFDD’s Core Curriculum is designed to teach faculty, post-docs and graduate students the 10 key skills necessary to thrive in the Academy. We define “thriving” as having extraordinary writing and research productivity AND having a full and healthy life off campus. They offer a variety of Guest Expert Webinars and Multi-Week Courses, intensive series offered by expert facilitators to tackle the Academy’s most pressing challenges. They also offer a number of additional resources including writing support, buddy matching, discussion forums and a resource library. Individual memberships are $495 per year and institutional memberships are $20,000.

Corresponding Handouts:

Essay on 5 Professional Skills (link is external) by Professor Karla Zepeda of Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/01/05/essay-five-professional-skills-graduate-students-learn

How to Build Your Best Resume – Features resume writing tips from UA Alumnus and professional resume writer, Geoff Coon: https://news.arizona.edu/blog/how-build-your-best-resume

GradResources.org – Partners graduate students with current or recent graduate students in their field for online support including the Graduate Student Crisis Line 1.877.GRAD.HLP (1.877.472.3457): https://gradresources.org/

University of Washington Mentoring Memos  on various aspects of mentoring at the graduate student level. The topics range from time management to teaching options and even building practical skills: https://grad.uw.edu/for-students-and-post-docs/core-programs/mentoring/mentor-memos/

Specialized cultural and resource centers on campus:

  • National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine publications