Impact
Since its beginning in 1998, NSF's IGERT program has had a significant impact on the trainees, on the awardee institutions, and upon the fields of scientific inquiry represented. In these 10 years, 215 grants were made to over 100 universities, funding more than 4800 trainees. An independent study of the outcomes of the IGERT awards made in 1998-2000 found that the IGERT program has had a measurable impact in altering the graduate education experiences of participating students, supporting faculty engagement in interdisciplinary teaching and research, and advancing interdisciplinary graduate education within host institutions.
Read the full report from this study:
Evaluation of the Initial Impacts of the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program: Final Report, prepared by Abt Associates, Inc., for The NSF, February 2006.
IGERT trainees receive broad and deep disciplinary and interdisciplinary education
IGERT students receive more extensive interdisciplinary training than non-IGERT peers, while maintaining depth of study in their chosen fields. IGERT students are better prepared to work in multidisciplinary teams and communicate with people outside their own fields. See more in Chapter 3 of this report.
IGERT is catalyzing a cultural change in graduate education
IGERT faculty and department chairs report an added impetus for interdisciplinary work as a result of IGERT participation, resulting in the creation of new courses and faculty collaborations. IGERT faculty members team-teach with colleagues outside their departments and more effectively mentor graduate students, from their own and other disciplines. See more in Chapter 5 of this report.
IGERT faculty are diversifying their research and collaborations
Faculty members report that IGERT has helped them establish work with colleagues in other departments and exposed them to new ideas. Many have learned new research techniques or been better positioned to win new grants as a result of IGERT. IGERT faculty are more likely to present research results at conferences outside their home discipline. See more in Chapter 4 of this report.
