Trainee Timelines
The NRT trainee timelines fit in well with the trainees’ own graduate programs’ timeline and requirements (e.g., qualifying exams, number of core and elective classes) and keep the time to graduation for a successful NRT trainee on par with their peer non-NRT counterparts. Every NRT trainee will follow their own graduate program’s requirements, and complete the NRT progression for coursework, research, and professional development as described below.
This figure below presents the timeline for trainees who are selected during the application process to be funded by the NSF-NRT Grant.
 Traineeship Timeline for Trainees funded by NSF NRT Grant. Trainees are admitted to the NRT in late Fall of their 1st year as a PhD student. These NRT trainees funded by the NSF-NRT grant for two years are required to complete all these program elements. |
At the time of admission into the NRT program, NRT trainees funded by the NSF-NRT grant should have already identified a designated primary faculty thesis advisor from their own primary discipline. The trainee will then be assigned a secondary faculty thesis advisor with complementary research expertise (e.g., a student with a MAT focused primary advisor will have an HPC/DS focused secondary advisor). This co-advising set-up will ensure the trainee receives convergent research mentoring and guidance.
The trainee and faculty advisors will work together to create a tailored individual development and training plan (IDTP) to gain technical knowledge of core discipline and complementary discipline and to conduct their convergent research (with both HPC and/or DS & MAT components). Each funded NRT trainee will update her/his/their IDTP every year to identify the strengths and areas in need of improvement in technical education and professional skill development (e.g., technical writing, oral communication, teamwork, data sharing and ethics, public speaking, leadership, and social outreach).
The figure below presents the timeline for trainees who want to experience and benefit from the NRT – MIDAS programmatic elements but are not selected to receive funding from NSF – NRT grant.
Regardless of whether the trainees receive NSF-NRT grant funding or not, all NRT trainees will appreciate that every element of the trainee timeline, with the timing and order of the elements. The timing and order of every element is chosen deliberately to have a logical flow and progression starting from a strong disciplinary foundation to incrementally infusing interdisciplinary training through convergent research and coursework combined with development and practice of technical and broad communication skills through teamwork, leadership, and peer-mentoring experiences.