Associate Students

NRT Associates Policy

Eligibility

  1. Graduate students (PhD or Masters students with a letter of advisor support) from any of the NRT primary or secondary departments are eligible to participate as associates. This includes.
    • SU: Bio, Chem, Physics, MAE, BMCE, Math, CEE.
    • Upstate: Cell and Dev Bio, BioChem and MolBio.
    • ESF: Chemistry.
  2. Students can join as an associate in any year of their PhD program.
    • Associates in AY1 are not required to have completed certain responsibilities; see details below.

Responsibilities

  1. By the end of the AY2 (or end of first participating year for those joining after AY2) associates should:
    • Complete Individual Development Plan Blackboard modules.
    • Identify a primary mentor and have them complete the mentor Blackboard modules.
    • Participate in cohort building activities:
      1. Professional development programming (attend a sufficient number of workshops in the series to attain a micro-credential as outlined by the Graduate School).
      2. Participate in one of the two other opportunities (attend several of the events).
        • Student-led seminar.
        • Peer mentoring circles.
  2. Associates must complete the required NSF reporting requirements (the Individual Development Plan prepares you to complete this report).
  3. Associates are expected to take the two core courses in AY2 or later (Bio-inspired Communication and Ethics and Emergence in Biology and Bio-inspired Systems).

Benefits

  1. Starting in AY2, associates are eligible to apply for NRT seed/travel funds.
  2. Associates in AY1 are eligible (and encouraged) to nominate themselves or be nominated for fellowship in AY2.
  3. Micro-credentials are awarded for participation in PDP via graduate school.
    • Earn higher level micro-credential that is NRT specific.
    • Earn lower level micro-credentials for participating in cohort-building activities.
  4. Associates can optionally take the STEM entrepreneurship class.
  5. Associates will gain access to brochures and brainstorming for NRT research projects.
  6. Associates will be invited to participate in all cohort-building and social events.
  7. Associates will receive augmented faculty mentoring and staff support as part of the program.