Conference Fosters Collaboration and Mentoring Among Student Leaders
Outcome/Accomplishment
Fourteen Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) sent graduate students to a conference of their Student Leadership Council (SLC) members, fostering personal and professional connections that encourage mentoring and collaboration. The conference was supported by the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (NSF CISTAR), an NSF-funded ERC based at Purdue University.
Impact/Benefits
Attendees agreed the conference helped them build a community that would freely share best practices and expertise and create lasting relationships, structures, and resources to prevent each new SLC leader from having to “reinvent the wheel.”
Explanation/Background
Most of the participants were SLC representatives with roles such as president/chair, vice president/co-chair, professional development liaison, or industry liaison. The design of the meeting was based on lessons learned from an earlier conference that demonstrated the value of facilitated discussions and the importance of an environment of connection and trust.
Almost all the SLC graduate student leaders recommended having such a working conference again (only one participant said “maybe”). Nearly all the students, in optional comments, said how beneficial the meeting was to their development as SLC leaders. Several sessions earned particularly enthusiastic reviews, including the discussion of SLC roles and making industry connections. Not even one session was rated “a little” or “not at all” useful.
Location
West Lafayette, Indianawebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Outcome/Accomplishment
Fourteen Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) sent graduate students to a conference of their Student Leadership Council (SLC) members, fostering personal and professional connections that encourage mentoring and collaboration. The conference was supported by the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (NSF CISTAR), an NSF-funded ERC based at Purdue University.
Location
West Lafayette, Indianawebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Impact/benefits
Attendees agreed the conference helped them build a community that would freely share best practices and expertise and create lasting relationships, structures, and resources to prevent each new SLC leader from having to “reinvent the wheel.”
Explanation/Background
Most of the participants were SLC representatives with roles such as president/chair, vice president/co-chair, professional development liaison, or industry liaison. The design of the meeting was based on lessons learned from an earlier conference that demonstrated the value of facilitated discussions and the importance of an environment of connection and trust.
Almost all the SLC graduate student leaders recommended having such a working conference again (only one participant said “maybe”). Nearly all the students, in optional comments, said how beneficial the meeting was to their development as SLC leaders. Several sessions earned particularly enthusiastic reviews, including the discussion of SLC roles and making industry connections. Not even one session was rated “a little” or “not at all” useful.