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Is graduate school for you?

 

 

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Is Graduate School For You?

 

Whether your senior year of college is coming to a close, or you graduated years ago, the question of whether or not you should attend graduate school may loom large in your mind. It’s not an easy question to answer, and you’ll need to spend some time really thinking about what your goals are, and whether or not graduate school may be able to help you reach those goals. Such a big life decision can seem overwhelming. Here are a few things to think about as you decide if graduate school is for you.

 

Identify Your (Career) Goals

 

First things first: you need to figure out what your long-term goals are, both professionally and personally. If you’re looking to eventually become a doctor, lawyer, or professor, there’s no question you’ll need to go to graduate school and obtain an advanced degree. If this is the case, start researching programs and schools that interest you, and figure out how to fit in graduate school with your personal life (which may have to be put on hold or altered slightly while you’re in school).

 

If your goal is to work in an industry like nonprofit or pharma, you may not need an advanced degree to do so. Take the time now to start researching various fields and career paths. Once you’ve narrowed those down, find specific companies where you would like to work and review their job postings. Learn the requirements of various positions and compare those requirements to your own experiences and skills. If they match up, great. If not, you may need to consider an advanced degree or more time in the workforce.

ON TOPIC

Kyle Yoshida, Stanford University

Kyle Yoshida received his bachelor's degree in bioengineering with a minor in African studies at Harvard University in 2018. He is currently pursuing his PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine Lab, where he focuses on soft robotics and wearable haptic device research. Kyle is Native Hawaiian and has been a member of AISES since 2016. He is also a graduate student equity and inclusion recruiter with the Stanford School of Engineering. In his free time, he likes to sing in the church choir, snorkel, and scuba dive.

 

When did you first become interested in graduate school?

 

As a rising senior, I participated in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Johns Hopkins University, which gave me a taste of what graduate school would be like. For the first five weeks of the 10-week program, I struggled to finish my experiments — the coding and setup for the project didn’t seem to ever work. Eventually, I met with the previous researcher and found that I had been doing the experiments wrong. I felt foolish, but instead of giving up, I stayed in lab late at night and on weekends to get some results. At the end of summer, I presented my findings to my advisor, and out of the blue, he asked, “Have you considered any graduate programs?” I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect he’d say that, since I had spent half the summer showing him meaningless results. I ended up working in lab a few weeks after the program ended and mentored a high school student to make more progress on the project. At the end of summer, I reflected on what my advisor told me and my life as a summer researcher, realizing that graduate school might be of interest.

PRE-COLLEGE OPPORTUNITIES

 

The National Security Agency Gifted and Talented Program is only open to high school seniors. The program is designed for students who have demonstrated an aptitude for engineering, science, technology, and mathematics. Students work 10 to 12 weeks during the summer following their senior year.

 

The Rural Assembly will host the Rural Youth Assembly April 2-5 in Mcallen, Texas. 50-75 rural and Native young adults from across the country will gather to discuss the issues that they see as critical to their lives and their communities. The nomination and application information along with much more information about the event is now available at the Rural Youth Assembly website and applications are due by January 31st.

 

The Amazon Future Engineer scholarship program assists high school seniors who have completed an advanced placement computer science course, or who have taken an advanced placement computer science test and plan to continue their education at an accredited four-year college or university majoring in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, or other computer-related field of study.

 

CATALYST Academy is a one-week residential program for rising high school juniors and seniors from underrepresented backgrounds who desire to learn about engineering and careers within an interactive milieu.

 

Curie Academy is a one-week residential program for high school girls who excel in math and science. The focus is on rising juniors and seniors who may not have had prior opportunities to explore engineering, but want to learn more about it in an interactive atmosphere.

 

Through a series of plenary sessions, keynote addresses from industry leaders, and breakout sessions, the 2020 Conference will be dedicated to reviewing current capacity in STEM and generate a vision for the future for preparing girls and women of color to thrive.

 

NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) Award Recognitions offers three distinct awards that honor aspirations, abilities, technical accomplishments, and influential guidance in computing. Help NCWIT spread the word to grades 9-12 students and college students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary; and to the educators who support them.

 

NIFA recently announced three Immune Reagents for Agricultural Animals grant awards to develop publicly available, reasonably priced, and readily accessible essential immunological reagents needed to study challenges affecting the health, management, and production of agriculturally relevant animals.

 

 


UNDERGRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES

 

The Rural Assembly will host the Rural Youth Assembly April 2-5 in McAllen, Texas. 50-75 rural and Native young adults from across the country will gather to discuss the issues that they see as critical to their lives and their communities. The nomination and application information along with much more information about the event is now available at the and applications are due by January 31, 2020.

 

Department of Astronomy

Cornell University

Students will work on individual research projects with Cornell faculty and research staff on a wide range of topics in planetary science, solar system exploration, astrobiology, exoplanets, radio, infrared and radar astronomy, and related theoretical topics as well as astronomical instrumentation. Students interested in computer science and engineering are also encouraged to apply.

 

Are you looking for a cybersecurity internship that will challenge you and provide real opportunities to apply the skills that you are learning in college? GEICO's Cybersecurity Summer Internship in the Washington, D.C. area will do all this and more!

 

The Raytheon CCDC Women’s Cyber Security Scholarship is the latest of the company’s efforts aimed at developing global cyber talent. Up to two scholarships will be awarded to two women participating in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

 

The NASCAR Diversity Internship Program (NDIP) is a 10-week, paid summer internship that seeks diverse undergraduate and graduate college students with high academic standing at elite institutions. NDIP participants contribute to the complex motorsports workforce; learn from leading sports executives in weekly Lunch and Learns; and network with industry professionals.

 

The Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators and the University of California, Berkeley are pleased to announce the new 2020 AstroTech Summer School to be held at UC Berkeley on July 20-24, 2020. A core goal of AstroTech is to help reverse the underrepresentation of people of color, women and gender minorities, and other marginalized groups in astronomy instrumentation.

 

Interns are being sought for full-time summer internship employment to help plan device deployment and testing within tribal lands and Native communities nationwide.

 

The WW Graduate School is a new kind of master’s degree in education. It’s personalized to a candidate's skills and knowledge. It focuses on what they need to know to meet the challenges of today’s classrooms—and to shape tomorrow’s classrooms, too.

 

With the support of DELL Technologies, CSforALL will host a one-day Facilitator Workshop followed by a two-day SCRIPT Workshop to guide School District Teams in the application of a framework to create customized implementation plans for computer science education for their district/state.

 

New York, N.Y. - Science Publishing Group

We invite scholars and researchers to submit papers to the journals or to join the editorial board or reviewer team.

 

College Park Md. - APS Guest Speaker Grant

Physics and physical science departments at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) or community colleges can apply for a $1,000 grant to bring guest speakers to their institution for colloquium or seminar presentations. This is a unique opportunity for students to gain exposure to the breadth of physics research. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

 

Denver, Colo.

The Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands (ESIL) certificate is an exciting new educational opportunity at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), where the term Indigenous includes Native American, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Hawaiian Native. This first-of-its-kind program provides training, internships, and job placement opportunities for students interested in environmental issues involving tribal and non-tribal entities.

 

GO PLACES WITH AISES

 

The current opportunities are the A.T. Anderson Scholarship, the Advancing Agricultural Science Opportunities for Native Americans (AASONA) Scholarship, the Intel Growing the Legacy Scholarship, the Chevron Scholarship, and the ExxonMobil Geosciences Summer Fieldwork Scholarship.

 

The current AISES Internship Opportunities are the , the , and the .

 

This program, based on our new culturally contextualized curriculum, was created to engage communities in supporting financial education for elementary, middle, high school, and young adults.

 

| February 16-18 in Temecula, Calif. | Pechanga Resort Casino

This popular AISES program is perfect for students from high school through postdoc — as well as emerging and mature professionals — who want to hone the myriad of skills they will need to be at their best in this rapidly changing world.

 

The 2020 NAISEF will be both an in-person and virtual science fair held at Oklahoma State University on April 4! NAISEF winners will receive cash prizes and the Grand Award winner for the Senior Division will receive a chance to participate in the International Science and Engineering Fair.

 

Energy Challenge is an energy-specific science and engineering fair for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian (AI/AN/NH) high school and middle school students.

 

The Special College issue has always included articles focused on paths to higher education. This year we've included a feature article on what's new, and what's not new, in . A second feature examines how to manage your way through .

 

SAVE THE DATE

 

Oct. 15-17, 2020

Spokane, Wash.

VIDEO SPOTLIGHT

 

Choosing a path to grad school

RESOURCES FOR AISES MEMBERS

 

Considering graduate school but still not sure if it's the right move? Check in with an where you can meet current grad students and ask questions.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES


GRADUATE/POSTDOC OPPORTUNITIES

 

The Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators and the University of California, Berkeley are pleased to announce the new 2020 AstroTech Summer School to be held at UC Berkeley on July 20-24, 2020. A core goal of AstroTech is to help reverse the underrepresentation of people of color, women and gender minorities, and other marginalized groups in astronomy instrumentation.

 

AGeS seeks to fund broadly in terms of research, geochronologic technique, and participants. Proposals will be evaluated not only based on overall significance, design, and logistical plan, but also on the degree to which the project will expand access to geochronology and build new networks.

 

The notice of federal funding opportunity for the 2021 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship is now open. The fellowship provides a one-year, paid experience for highly-qualified early career professionals to work on issues related to coastal, marine, and Great Lakes science and policy in offices within the executive or legislative branch of government in Washington, D.C.

 

The Coconino County Education Service Agency is partnering with Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University on a proposal to the National Science Foundation to fund Project Co-STEM. We are looking for prospective Advisory Board Members to provide guidance and insight on the project development and implementation.

 

This program provides funding for American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students conducting scientific research under the supervision of an academic mentor.

 

New York, N.Y. - Science Publishing Group

We invite scholars and researchers to submit papers to the journals or to join the editorial board or reviewer team.

 

College Park, M.D. - APS Guest Speaker Grant

Physics and physical science departments at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) or community colleges can apply for a $1,000 grant to bring guest speakers to their institution for colloquium or seminar presentations.

 

 

USDA

 

 

 

OUR MISSION: The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is a national nonprofit organization focused on substantially increasing the representation of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, First Nations, and other Indigenous peoples of North America in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies and careers.

 

 

 

Paths to Opportunities and Winds of Change are published exclusively by AISES.

 

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