Click hear for a NSF Graduate Education Forum Update
NSF Grad Forum Overview
Thank you for visiting the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Education Discussion Forum. This is a three-month pilot forum intended to encourage discussion among U.S. graduate-education stakeholders. Recent reports recommend several courses of action to improve U.S. STEM graduate education, but many of these reports lack input from the graduate education community broadly. This forum will provide the NSF Division of Graduate Education (DGE) a direct connection with graduate students, faculty, university administrators, employers, and others who want to contribute to the national dialogue. To get stakeholder input, the DGE will host moderated conversations on this forum. The DGE will post discussion questions in four broad topic areas: Diversity and broadening participation; campus to careers; the graduate education experience; and mentoring. The intent is to provide a forum for graduate education stakeholders to discuss challenges in graduate education and to propose innovative ideas to improve outcomes. The DGE will respond to general themes within the community discussion, but will not use the forum to answer questions about specific NSF programs. However, the comments and ideas shared on the forum will inform both the NSF and national dialogue about the state of STEM graduate education and new strategic directions.
How to participate
We are very excited to have you participate in this national dialogue on graduate education. Therefore we have included many features to enhance your experience. First, you will find links to the four topic categories under “Discussion Topics” tab at the top of this page. Follow those links to see the questions and conversations under each topic.
You may add your comments to the questions that NSF poses or you may respond directly to other users’ comments or questions. You may post your opinion on the topic and you may include links to resources, videos, photos, reports and other items outside of this forum. It is not necessary to sign up for a WordPress account to participate in the forum, and you may post anonymously by leaving the “name” box blank under a comment box.
Liking and Sharing
You may like an individual comment or a conversation by clicking on the “Like” button. In addition, you may share the content of this forum on your own social media pages by using the social media links provided or by copying and pasting the NSF grad forum web address. Liking and sharing the forum’s content will indicate to the DGE and other users what topics are of higher interest to the community. The collective dialogue on this forum will be richer with increased participation. Therefore, please share the forum with your networks and encourage broad participation.
Following the conversation
If you are interested in following a particular thread or you would like to know when someone has commented on your comment, you may sign up for email notifications (leaving your email only will still allow you to post your comment anonymously). We also recommend returning to the forum periodically as the content, viewpoints, and people engaging in discussion will change.
Notes on Participating
By participating you agree to the NSF Comment Policy which is posted on this website and on the NSF’s website. All comments will need to be approved by NSF and before they are visible publicly. NSF will only review the comments to ensure that they are within the NSF Comment Policy.
The DGE will not collect nor require user information for you to participate in the conversation on this forum. However, if you feel comfortable sharing your career stage (e.g. graduate student, undergraduate, graduate advisor, postdoc, etc.), please feel free to do so at the end of your posts.
NSF Graduate Education Forum 