"Advancing Inclusive Leaders in STEM: 20 Years of the PDP" Conference

The application is now closed.

This conference will bring together approximately 85 alumni from the Professional Development Program (PDP) offered by the Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE) from 2001-2020. 

The PDP prepared early-career scientists and engineers to be effective and inclusive professionals, with a focus on teaching authentic STEM learning experiences, and including other professional skills such as leadership, collaboration, mentoring, and project management.

The conference will be an opportunity for PDP alumni to share their past and current PDP-related work, reconnect with the PDP community, and continue to advance as leaders  in authentic, inclusive STEM education and professional practice. Conference participants are scientists and engineers from more than 50 organizations. They will come from 14 states in the U.S. and several international locations. Most participants were part of the PDP when they were graduate students or postdocs, and many have advanced into career positions where they apply what they gained from the PDP and serve as leaders in making their classrooms, working environment, and professional endeavors more effective and inclusive. They work in faculty positions, as scientists or engineers in industry or government, or in positions in which they lead education, training, professional development or diversity initiatives.

A major outcomes from this conference will be a set of recommendations for stakeholders interested in providing professional development for graduate students and postdocs, based on 20 years of lessons learned through the PDP. To achieve this outcome, the conference will be structured around panel presentations from alumni, followed by discussions facilitated by PDP leaders in which recommendations are drafted. The conference will include a poster session, short presentations by authors of papers that have been written for conference proceedings volume (see below), and opportunities for participants to have discussions on their own topics of interest.

This conference is made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation through funding for the “Advancing Inclusive Leaders in Astronomy” project (AST#1743117).

Information about the conference:

• Agenda
• Panel presentations and papers
• Poster presentations
• Application and travel award requests
• Frequently asked questions
• Location, hotel and travel information
• Information about COVID-19 and the conference 
• Travel Insurance

Pre-conference events:

• Mentoring the Akamai Way: All conference attendees are invited to attend this event to learn more about the ISEE’s Akamai Internship Program and aspects of the PDP have been translated into mentoring. Mentors and leaders from Hawaii’s astronomy community will also attend.
• Leadership Institute: Approximately 20 PDP instructors and ISEE Chapter Leads will convene on May 17-18 to initiate plans for the next generation PDP.  Though this event is limited to a small set of PDP leaders, the conference will include a report from this group, including how conference participants can get involved.

Conference proceedings volume: Papers are in progress for a volume of conference proceedings, tentatively titled Impact Through Inquiry: Twenty Years of Preparing Leaders in Effective and Inclusive Education at the Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators.

Conference Co-Organizers:

Lisa Hunter (lhunter@ucsc.edu) and Anne Metevier (ajmetevier@gmail.com)