Career & Professional Development Programming for Graduate Students
WPI is committed to providing our graduate students and postdocs with the best possible graduate and postdoctoral training. We know that scientists, engineers, teachers, and researchers face an increasingly competitive world and to best prepare our trainees 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.
We run intensive multi-session workshop series on pertinent topics, such as communication skills, career management, leadership, health and wellness, and equity and inclusion, as well boot-camps on thesis/dissertation writing, fellowship writing, and both academic and non-academic job searches. Additionally, we run two graduate level courses, Fundamentals of Scientific Teaching and Pedagogy, and Responsible Conduct of Research, each Fall and Spring, respectively, that are open to graduate students and postdocs.
Throughout the academic year we also organize STARS – WPI Student Training and Readiness Sessions, which offers graduate students and postdocs the opportunity to learn about a variety of career and professional development topics each month. We also organize monthly sessions of the Graduate Researcher Education and Training (GREAT) series, which provides foundational training for beginning researchers, with topics discussed such as designing and presenting a research poster and delivering an effective research talk.
Beyond the various workshop series, we annually run the Graduate Research and Innovation Exchange (GRIE), a research symposium for graduate students and postdocs to share their research with the greater WPI community. We also run an annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, a platform for PhD students to compete in delivering short presentations on their research to a broad audience.
In addition to these career and professional development programs, WPI graduate students receive a full suite of career counseling services through the WPI Heebner Career Development Center (HCDC). The HCDC organizes 2 large career fairs, as well as several more discipline targeted ones throughout the year, provides 1:1 career counseling services, as well as provides resume review sessions, interview prep, and maintains a large job and internship opportunity repository.
Beyond the programming and services mentioned, WPI also strongly encourages its graduate students, including our PhD students, to seek out internships that align with their career interests. We have a centralized policy permitting graduate internships and a registration process that involves approvals from the graduate student’s department/advisor and Registrar. Experiential learning is critical for graduate students to be competitive candidates for their chosen careers, and completing a graduate internship can be a great means to accomplish this objective.
For trainees focused on academic careers, we do offer a postdoc position search boot camp each Fall and a Faculty Job Search boot camp each summer. We also run a fellowship writing boot camp each Fall, in which we not only provide information on fellowship opportunities with tips and guidance, but also match fellowship writers with faculty members at WPI to provide them 1:1 feedback. We also provide participants in this boot camp access to successful fellowship applications and they hear from a panel of current fellows on their fellowship writing strategies.
Programs
Student Training and Readiness Series (STARS)
A multi-session series run monthly throughout the academic year to provide overviews on a variety of pertinent career and professional development topics. The topics covered in the STARS sessions varies from year to year and is based on graduate student career and professional development interests and needs. The STARS series has sessions that are relevant for all graduate students and many sessions that are also relevant for postdocs.
IDP Program
A short workshop series run each fall to provide guidance on how to effectively manage one’s career, with a focus on individual development plans (IDPs), as well as how to advance in one’s career, with a focus on honing effective networking skills and obtaining the right mentoring. The IDP series is designed for PhD students and postdocs, though masters students may participate as well.
Graduate Researcher Education and Training Series
A multisession series run each year to provide instruction on fundamental skills and knowledge graduate researchers (PhDs, Masters Thesis Students) need to be successful in their research activities. This series has a specific focus on research communication skills (fellowships, manuscripts, posters, communicating research to non-technical audiences), with other topics, such as finding and critically reading research literature being covered as well.
Graduate Fellowship Boot Camp
The NSF GFRP/Graduate Fellowship Boot Camp is run annually each Fall starting in late August each year. The boot camp provides overview sessions on fellowship/grant writing, guidance for applying for fellowships, access to examples of successful fellowship applications, as well as 1:1 mentorship with a WPI faculty member to review your fellowship application prior to submission.
Postdoc Search Boot Camp
A short series run each fall to provide guidance on best approaches to identify and secure a postdoc opportunity. This program is intended for mid- to late-PhD students as well as postdocs.
Faculty Position Search Boot Camp
A short series run each summer to demystify the faculty position search process and provide guidance on applying and interviewing for faculty positions. This program is intended for mid- to late-PhD students as well as postdocs.
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Course (ID500)
A zero credit graduate course run each Spring semester to provide instruction on best practices in research and experimental design, data management, and record keeping, as well as provides an overview of authorship rights, mentoring, collaboration and conflicts of interest, research subjects ethics and policies, intellectual property and ownership of data, and research misconduct, among other topics. The course satisfies NIH RCR requirements.
Leadership Series
A multi-session series run every other spring to bolster leadership skill development through interactive workshops on personality type and self-awareness, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, team dynamics and multicultural competencies, conflict management and negotiation, organizational leadership, strategic planning, as well as 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.
Pedagogy Course (ID527)
A zero credit graduate course run each Fall to bolster teaching proficiency through in depth and interactive sessions on the science behind student learning, scientific teaching, assessments and rubrics, active learning, project based learning, technology in the classroom, and course design.
Thesis/Dissertation Writing Boot Camp
A half day boot camp run each winter providing a general overview of thesis/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)
An annual graduate research symposium featuring graduate student poster presentations with prizes awarded. GRIE enjoys significant participation level by graduate students and is widely attended by the WPI community. GRIE typically takes place in February each year.
Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition
An annual competition that challenges PhD students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience using only a single static slide. 3MT celebrates the discoveries made by PhD students and encourages their skill in communicating the importance of research to the broader community. 3MT competitions are held in the Spring semester.