Professional Development

Catalog description

An introduction for incoming graduate students to methods of seminar presentation and critique and to various guidelines for professional development during their graduate school experience. Topics include research laboratory safety (REM), how to give a talk, acclimating to graduate studies (especially time management), how to select a major professor and an advisory committee, how to prepare a thesis proposal, Purdue University guidelines for responsible conduct of research, how to organize a poster presentation, how to negotiate with mentors, and expectations for success. The course also serves to socialize the incoming cohort of students among themselves and with more senior students in the broad range of research disciplines available.