Applied Graduate STEM Education through an Innovative Hands-On Industrial Work Experience

科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）课程研究生的职业准备传统上侧重于与科学研究学术生涯相关的知识和技能，例如批评和撰写科学期刊文章或在技术会议上发表。虽然这些技能对学术生涯的成功很重要，但它们并没有为学生提供行业所需的必要知识，技能和能力。考虑工业职业的学生需要大量的额外培训，然后才能在私营部门的职业生涯中取得成功，并为公司提供价值。研究生培训的这种差距为学生和雇主创造了一个紧张的环境，因为STEM毕业生从学术学生过渡到行业专业人士。在半导体或微系统领域尤其如此，在这些领域，芯片和科学法案创造了大量需要高技能劳动力的高科技工作岗位。这项授予新墨西哥州大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新奖（IGE）将为研究生STEM教育开发一种变革性的教学法，以提高STEM研究生的知识，技能和能力，以增加工业就业准备。该项目将通过减少对行业培训的需求和缓解STEM研究生向半导体和微系统劳动力行业职业的过渡，弥合学术学位课程与行业需求之间的差距。更广泛地说，该项目的结果将提供指导，并为如何更好地为STEM学生做好工业工作的准备提供信息。最终目标是通过加速和加强大学和行业之间的人才管道，培养能够为微系统行业提供价值的学生。通常，学生通过实习为行业职业做准备。然而，由于对学生支持的教师研究赠款的要求，对外国学生的签证要求，高科技工作与大学的接近，以及担心这种经验可能会延长完成学位的时间，实习参与往往是有限的。因此，在微系统领域的研究生实习并不常见。该项目将开发和测试一种新颖的多课程，为沉浸在学术环境中的学生提供工业实习或初创公司的经验。这些课程将利用基于问题的学习与基于行业的问题解决相结合，这将创造一个独特的混合环境，超越典型的讲座，学生可以获得动手，行业相关的知识，技能和能力。工业导师将提供课程开发建议，并在项目评估中进行合作。评估将包括对学习成果的评估，如与微系统行业相关的：跨学科问题解决和团队合作技能，科学交流和职业准备。研究生教育创新（IGE）计划的重点是研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试验、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Career preparation for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs traditionally focuses on knowledge and skills related to academic careers in science research such as critiquing and writing scientific journal articles or presenting at technical conferences. While such skills are important for success in academic careers they do not provide students with necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities demanded by industry. Students considering industrial careers require significant additional training before they can succeed individually in private sector careers and provide value to the company. This gap in graduate student training creates a stressful environment for both students and employers as STEM graduates transition from academic students to industry professionals. This is especially true in the semiconductor or microsystems area where the CHIPS and Science Act is creating an abundance of high-tech jobs that demand a highly skilled workforce. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of New Mexico will develop a transformative pedagogy for graduate STEM education to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities of STEM graduate students to increase industrial job readiness. The project will bridge the gap between academic degree programs and industry needs by reducing the need for industry training and easing transition of STEM graduate students to industrial careers in the semiconductor and microsystem workforce. More broadly, results from this project will provide guidance and inform approaches on how to better prepare STEM students for industrial jobs. The end goal is to produce students that can provide value to the microsystems industry by accelerating and strengthening the pipeline of talent between universities and industry.Typically, students prepare for industry careers through internships. Internship participation, however, is often limited due to the demands on students supported faculty research grants, visa requirements for foreign students, the proximity of high-tech jobs to universities, and concerns that such experiences might extend time to degree completion. As a result, graduate internships in the microsystem area are not common. This project will develop and test a novel multi-course curriculum that models an industrial internship or start-up company experience for students otherwise immersed in an academic environment. The courses will utilize problem-based learning combined with industrial-based problem solving, which will create a unique hybrid environment, beyond typical lectures, where students can obtain hands-on, industry-relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities. Industrial mentors will advise on curricular development and collaborate in the program evaluation. Evaluation will include assessment of learning outcomes such as microsystems industry-relevant: interdisciplinary problem solving and teamwork skills, science communication, and career readiness. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.