INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN: A PERSONAL ACTION PLAN FOR ‘IKE WAI GRADUATE STUDENTS

Funded by the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Ike Wai (“Water Knowledge”) addresses the critical need of the state of Hawaii to maintain its supply of clean water. Our key research questions are: How much water is there?, Where does it flow?, and How long will it last? The interdisciplinary research team tackling these questions includes geoscientists, microbiologists, groundwater modelers, engineers, data scientists, social scientists and Hawaiian language specialists. Undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers are integral members of the science team.

Through an integrated program of research, education, community engagement and decision support, ‘Ike Wai seeks to build a diverse and competitive workforce to tackle state and national water challenges. The ‘Ike Wai Professional Development (PD) program equips graduate students and post-docs with the skills and experiences needed to maximize their potential and succeed in their professional careers. Each graduate student and post-doc is paired with a PD mentor from a different disciplinary field. The PD mentor is not a research advisor; instead, s/he serves as a coach to help students set and attain more holistic career goals.

Graduate students and post-docs each create an Individual Development Plan (IDP), in consultation with their research advisor and PD mentor. The IDP serves as a blueprint to guide each student’s professional development. All IDPs include six core competencies: Research, Teaching & Mentoring, Leadership, Writing & Publication, Oral Communication, Career Development, and may include other areas as needed. This presentation will provide some first insights into how IDPs benefit ‘Ike Wai graduate students, as well as some of the challenges that we experienced during the pilot semester (Spring 2017).