Earlier this month Lois Trautvetter and Michelle Paulsen attended the NRT Teams Annual Meeting 2016, and Future STEM Leaders Conference in Washington DC.

The events, both co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland, brought together students, faculty, and program coordinators from 18 NSF Research Traineeship teams across the country. The gatherings featured experts from academia, government and industry as they discussed the changing demands of STEM research and careers, the most promising innovations in training that have emerged in  programs around the country, and the challenges of scaling up these innovations to transform graduate education across institutions and disciplines.

Michelle and Lois joined these featured speakers to represent IDEAS.  Michelle lead an interactive workshop during the meeting focused on effective science communication skills, while Lois spoke on a panel at the conference about recruitment and retention efforts based on research relating to the IDEAS project.

Both connected with many people who were impressed with IDEAS, and who provided keen insight and information to help our program grow, and accomplish its future goals.

Read the School of Education and Social Policy article here.