8 minute read
UNLOCKING GRADUATE IDENTITY
EXCELLENCE IN GRADUATE EDUCATION
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Joan Isichei transferred to North Carolina A&T after hearing a compelling pitch from a recruiter at a national conference. In 2019, Isichei, then a master’s student at University of Texas El Paso, traveled to Detroit for the National Society of Black Engineers’ 45th annual conference. There, she met a recruiter from N.C. A&T who shared talking points that resonated with her including A&T being a top HBCU, having a majority Black student population, and a great Industrial Systems and Engineering program through which women before her have succeeded.
Isichei is now in the second year of her Ph.D. program, working alongside advisor Salil Desai, Ph.D., university distinguished professor and director of the Center of Excellence in Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing. She said what brought her to the industrial and systems engineering discipline was her fascination with improving and optimizing processes; a passion influenced by her cousin, an industrial engineer with the United States Postal Service. Isichei and her advisor are researching how to use machine learning to improve additive manufacturing with better modeling using products like plastic, which will improve the creation and designs of 3D products.
Shaun Little is a third year Computational Data Science and Engineering Ph.D. candidate. He studies artificial intelligence and machine learning with advisor Kaushik Roy, Ph.D., associate professor for computer science. Specifically, he seeks to advance Natural Language Processing modeling for the Swahili language. He says that artificial intelligence platforms for languages frequently underrepresent African languages, of which more than 1,000 may exist. He seeks to fix that.
Like Isichei, Little wants to see more African American representation in his discipline, especially at the doctoral level. “As an African American male, I don’t necessarily see myself reflected in the computer engineering discipline and even less so at the doctoral level,” says Little. He, as well as Isichei, took part in the new nine-week Graduate Research Engineering Identity (GREID) program. The program builds an engineering identity for graduate students, especially for those who are historically underrepresented and/or feel isolated.
Speaking to his experience with the GREID program, Little added, “I found value in this program that seemingly understood the isolation and doubt I can feel at times and linked me with other A&T counterparts that could possibly be struggling with the same ideas.”
In fact, 10 years ago, Little dropped out of a doctoral program in which he was the only African American matriculant. He reflected, “the experience was lonely, isolating, and there seemed to be no mentors or faculty there interested in my personal, professional or academic development.”
Unlocking a graduate research identity starts with identifying the faculty members, mentors and peers who have shared the experience of graduate school and prepping for the future. The GREID program connects students with subject area experts in academia and the corporate world who can help guide the student as they traverse graduate school and cheer them on when studies become tough.
More than knowing what they are studying, GREID gives students tools to understand why they are studying. What grand challenges stand to be solved in society that really resonate with the student? What drives them in their personal and career pursuit? Mentors and faculty for GREID help students ask the right questions that will build and shape their personal identities.
During and well after studying at N.C. A&T, the students are equipped with mentors and faculty for life that they can connect with, bounce ideas off, and find career directions. In many ways this is similar to finding community but differs in the fact that students who go through the GREID program gain tools for tapping into their newly-found community.
The GREID program is not exclusive to any group–in fact, all engineer and computer science graduate students at N.C. A&T are invited to attend. “The program was the creation of associate dean Bala Ram, Ph.D., associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Engineering, where part of the strategy motivating it was our awareness that we work with a population of emerging engineering and computer science professionals who, by their race, gender and ethnicity, are largely underrepresented in their fields,” says Robin Coger, Ph.D., dean of the College of Engineering.
Even for students from wellrepresented populations, it is challenging for most graduate students to identify how to fine-tune their research and go beyond their broad field of interest to understand fully how to leverage their research for careers, publications and more.
The GREID program builds motivation through identity. More importantly, the program is centered around the belief that a student who develops an engineering identity–that is, understanding their own motivations for pursuing their degree–will be more grounded, principled and more skilled in the pursuit of their education.
“It’s about consciousness and having the awareness of what you’re doing as a researcher,” says Daniel Limbrick, Ph.D., associate professor for electrical engineering. “GREID is about the journey of following a path of skills and connecting earnestly with what you’re trying to learn.”
Ram is the principal investigator for the GREID program. The program invites master’s and doctoral students to attend a nine-week program that reinforces the students’ writing skills, helps them to identify conferences and publications, and so much more.
“The nine-week program covered a range of topics. We received feedback after every session; guest speakers and mentors covered a variety of topics and provided feedback directly to us; and overall, we developed skills that enhanced our research capabilities: delving into research, posing research questions, navigating research, and networking,” says Isichei. Isichei’s instincts in Detroit proved fruitful–at A&T and within the GREID program, she has found a community of subject area experts in a diverse area of topics, and faculty and students from multidisciplinary spaces who share a common passion for advancing engineering and computer science research.
Isichei says that interacting with colleagues and research teams proved valuable in the development of her own research identity. Before GREID, she does not recall knowing what her engineering identity was; after the program, she says she’s better at asking valuable questions and knows where and how to pull up technical journal articles and research. With the support of her advisor Desai, she sees the larger possible applications of additive manufacturing.
Little agrees and says the program has made him feel more confident in his own engineering identity and career choice as a research engineering academic. From the program, he learned that his relationship with his advisor Roy is key to his success in the doctoral program and to future opportunities post-study.
“I feel identity building as a motivator is very important for me. It reassures me that I can do this, even in the midst of Covid when I don’t necessarily have visible, tangible reminders because I’m not on campus at my HBCU, because my motivation is strengthened from within,” adds
“I found value in this program that seemingly understood the isolation and doubt I can feel at times and linked me with other A&T counterparts that could possibly be struggling with the same ideas.” -Shaun Little
Isichei holds a custom- printed face mask with a filter and nose-form-fitting.
Little. He says that completing the GREID program has made it so much clearer to him where the pathways lay to complete his doctoral program.
Little is more confident now than ever in his passion for words as data. “Having tested my DNA and finding out how and where I was connected to Africa, I decided that I wanted to extend the state-of-the-art technology for African languages to facilitate translation for Africans to communicate with each other and for English speaking African Americans discovering their heritage to communicate effectively on the African continent.”
The GREID program is currently offered to N.C. A&T College of Engineering graduate students. Faculty get to know the students personally and learn about their motivations for both graduate school and for participating in GREID. The investigative team has built the program in a manner that can be replicated across disciplines and to other universities.
“GREID has engineering in its name, but we want to extend these opportunities to any graduate student looking to gain skill-sets needed for their own research,” says Ram. After all, the program at its core is devoted to increasing a student’s identity as a motivator.
GREID is a three-year grant sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Ram serves as the principal investigator and co-principal investigators are Chrysafis Vogiatzis, Tobin Walton, Juanda Johnson-Taylor and Stephanie Teixeira-Poit.
1. FINDING COMMUNITY Unlocking a graduate research identity starts with identifying the faculty members, mentors and peers who have shared the experience of graduate school and prepping for the future. The GREID program connects students with subject area experts in academia and the corporate world who can help guide the student as they traverse graduate school and cheer them on when studies become tough.
2. UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE More than knowing what they are studying, GREID gives students tools to understand why they are studying. What grand challenges stand to be solved in society that really resonate with the student? What drives them in their personal and career pursuit? Mentors and faculty for GREID help students ask the right questions that will build and shape their personal identities.
3. FINDING SUPPORT During and well after studying at N.C. A&T, the students are equipped with mentors and faculty for life that they can connect with, bounce ideas off, and find career directions. In many ways this is similar to finding community but differs in the fact that students who go through the GREID program gain tools for tapping into their newly-found community.
