The workshop will consist of an information session about the NRT program and the internal downselect process. We will also have a Question and Answer session to address any specific questions, with help from two of Penn State’s faculty who have received NRT funding, Drs. Kristen Fichthorn (Chemical Engineering) and Erica Smithwick (Geography).
The NRT program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas. The NRT program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.
Successful NRTs require good program leadership and a well-rounded group of faculty mentors engaged in research, training, and placing graduate students into different relevant career tracks. The University is limited to TWO submissions to the NRT program; proposal efforts really should represent a team approach to graduate training that has sufficient institutional interest and support. Because of the limited submission, the Office of the Vice President for Research will be running an internal competition around September 27, 2018.
*For FY2019 and FY2020, the NRT Program requests proposals in any interdisciplinary research theme of national priority, with special emphasis on the six NSF Research Big Ideas. The NSF Research Big Ideas are:
- Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR),
- The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (HTF),
- Navigating the New Arctic (NNA),
- Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (WOU),
- The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution (QL), and
- Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype (ROL).