Career & Professional Development Programming for Graduate Students

Scientists, engineers, teachers, and researchers face an increasingly competitive world. 
To best prepare our graduate and postdoctoral students for their future careers, we offer a number of free professional development programs throughout the year that are open to graduate students and postdocs from all disciplines. 

Programming includes:

  • Intensive, multisession workshop series on pertinent topics, such as communication skills, career management, leadership, health and wellness, and equity and inclusion
  • Bootcamps on thesis/dissertation writing and fellowship writing
  • Job search bootcamps for both academic and non-academic positions
Student Training and Readiness Series (STARS)
  • A multisession series conducted monthly throughout the academic year to provide overviews on a variety of pertinent career and professional development topics.
  • Topics vary from year to year based on graduate student career and professional development interests and needs. 
  • The STARS series has sessions that are relevant to all graduate students and many sessions that are also relevant to postdocs. 

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IDP Program

A short workshop series run each fall to provide guidance on how to effectively advance in one’s career, with a focus on: 

  • Individual development plans (IDPs)
  • Effective networking skills 
  • Obtaining the right mentoring

The IDP series is designed for PhD students and postdocs, though master’s students may participate as well. 

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Graduate Researcher and Education Training (GREAT) Series

A multisession series run each year to provide fundamental skills and knowledge that graduate researchers (e.g., PhD and master's thesis students) need to be successful in their research activities. The series has a specific focus on research communication skills, e.g.:

  • Designing and presenting a research poster
  • Delivering an effective research talk
  • Explaining research to non-technical audiences 
  • Finding and critically reading research literature  

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Graduate Fellowship Bootcamp

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)/Other Fellowship Bootcamp: 

  • Runs annually each fall, starting in late August
  • Provides information on fellowship opportunities with tips and guidance
  • Matches fellowship writers with WPI faculty members to provide 1:1 feedback and mentorship
  • Gives participants access to successful fellowship applications and discussions from a panel of current fellows on their writing strategies

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Postdoc Position Search Bootcamp
  • Short series run each fall 
  • Provides guidance on best approaches to identify and secure a postdoc opportunity 
  • Intended for mid- to late-PhD students as well as postdocs
Faculty Position Search Bootcamp
  • Short series run each summer 
  • Demystifies the faculty position search process
  • Provides guidance on applying and interviewing for faculty positions
  • Intended for mid- to late-PhD students as well as postdocs
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Course
  • Zero-credit graduate course run each spring semester
  • Provides instruction on best practices in research and experimental design, data management, and record keeping
  • Provides an overview of authorship rights, mentoring, collaboration and conflicts of interest, research subjects ethics and policies, intellectual property and ownership of data, research misconduct, etc.
  • Satisfies NIH RCR requirements

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Leadership Series

A multisession series run every other spring to bolster leadership skill development through interactive workshops on the following topics:

  • Personality type and self-awareness
  • Emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills
  • Team dynamics and multicultural competencies
  • Conflict management and negotiation
  • Organizational leadership
  • Strategic planning
  • Project and time management

Graduate students have the option of joining a peer leadership group following the series to continue developing leadership skills. The next leadership series will be run in spring 2026. 

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Pedagogy Course

A zero-credit graduate course run each fall to bolster teaching proficiency through in-depth and interactive sessions on the following topics:

  • Science behind student learning
  • Scientific teaching
  • Assessments and rubrics
  • Active learning and project-based learning
  • Technology in the classroom
  • Course design

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Thesis/Dissertation Writing Bootcamp

A half-day bootcamp run each winter providing a general overview of theses and dissertations, including their organization, writing strategies, and literature review.

Graduate Health and Wellness Series

A short series run each spring semester giving graduate students and postdocs practical advice on maintaining a healthy work-life balance.  

Graduate Research and Innovation Exchange (GRIE)
  • Annual graduate research symposium giving graduate students the opportunity to share their research with the greater WPI community
  • Prizes are awarded
  • Enjoys significant participation by graduate students and is widely attended by the WPI community
  • Typically takes place in February each year

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Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition
  • Annual competition that challenges PhD students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience using only a single static slide
  • Celebrates the discoveries made by PhD students and encourages their skill in communicating the importance of research to the broader community
  • Held in the spring semester

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Want to stay informed about upcoming programs and events? 

Keep an eye out for our regular newsletter, delivered straight to every WPI graduate student's inbox!

Not getting our emails? Contact Jane Lesniewski to be added to the list. 

Career Counseling Services

WPI graduate students receive a full suite of career counseling services through the Heebner Career Development Center (HCDC). 

The HCDC organizes two large career fairs as well as several discipline-specific ones throughout the year. It also provides 1:1 career counseling services, resume review sessions, and interview prep while maintaining a massive database of job and internship opportunities. 

Graduate Internships

WPI strongly encourages graduate students, including PhD students, to seek out internships that align with their career interests. Experiential learning, as achieved through real-world internships, is critical for graduate students to be competitive candidates in their chosen careers.

We have a centralized policy for graduate internships and a registration process that involves approvals from the graduate student’s department/advisor and Registrar.