The NDSU Graduate School in the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies, offers several support programs for the professional development of graduate students, including improvement of writing skills  in the STEM disciplines through NDSU Graduate Center for Writers (GCW).

This graduate writing program has already garnered national attention through its model of using advanced STEM Ph.D. students as writing coaches. GCW trains these coaches in the basics of writing pedagogy, while they work with professors in their discipline to offer student support for discipline-specific academic writing such as posters, research papers, and technical reports.

The GCW also offers individual advising sessions and offers both for-credit and non-credit options to learn grant writing, including UNIV-640 1-credit course on Writing for Scholars, Fellows, and Researchers. The main focus of the course is on writing skills for scientific proposals, which is a challenging task for junior researchers requiring a mindset different from typical technical writing used for description of accumulated research data in reports and scientific papers. The GCW involves external scientists who have served on the selection committees of major funding agencies, including faculty from our Department, to evaluate the proposals students write in these courses and to provide critical, real-life feedback.

Become a member of ACS.  ACS offers workshops, webinars, activities and courses designed to help you with personal evaluation and goal setting, as well as enhance your skills in a wide range of topics. Register for ACS Spring and Fall Meetings to attend events focused on research carrier development. For more information visit the link: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/careers/developing-growing-in-your-career.html

The NDSU Graduate School also provides the information and support students need for completing their graduate degree. To that end, a number of helpful workshops and events are organized by the Graduate School Office throughout the year.

Focused assistance with topics such as recruitment, thesis and dissertation preparation, and financial awards is offered to groups of students or faculty in individual departments. For more information visit the link: https://www.ndsu.edu/gradschool/current_students/professional_development

The Graduate School sends out a monthly newsletter highlighting current and upcoming opportunities. This is a great way to keep informed of relevant news and events. Students should be automatically subscribed when you enroll in a graduate program.

The NDSU Librarysupports teaching, research, and informational needs of the NDSU community by providing resources and services to all students, faculty and staff. For more information visit the link: https://library.ndsu.edu/search-find/research/resources