Parking Lot Items
Education/Communication Access Points:
- Meaning of Land-, Sea-, Space-grant to incoming students, postdocs, and general public. How do we distinguish ourselves from similar entities?
- Disconnect in language we use that is not understandable by undergrads, grad, postdocs – what are the opportunities to engage (UGR Expo in the Fall, URS Symposium in the spring, Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium in the fall.)
- Student survey – incoming (baseline for knowledge about research, opportunities)
- Student survey – graduates (baseline for knowledge about research, opportunities)
- The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs runs in alternative years a Postdoctoral Climate Survey and a Postdoctoral Professional Development survey TAMU-wide.
- Student, postdoc mentorship training – opportunities for improving, involving more faculty.
- Appreciation for postdoc professional development as an essential element for success.
- Community, industry – survey? would like to schedule an update and listening session after May 2024
- Concern about faculty recruitment – it’s as much about relationships – attending conferences, workshops, being a part of advisory groups, visibility outside of campus or Texas, being approachable – senior faculty and leaders looking to come to Texas A&M will connect with someone they know or have met (how strategic are we about those engagements?)
- Networking opportunities, or lack thereof
- Improving connectivity to centers and institutes, state agencies (climatologist was one cited) – resource opportunities.
Resources Needed:
- Intuitive Database for capture of ideation, unfunded proposals
- Subject matter expert repository – how to build, how to maintain, communication and visibility about – Speaker’s Bureau, connecting with the community, the public, industry, etc.
- Graduate student research fellowships, internships
- Postdoc fellowships
- Postdoc connection to industry, career development opportunities.
Best Practices (to review or to create):
- Peer and aspirant peer websites for research
- Two-year assessment process for evaluating strategic priorities (“niches”)
- Connecting the dots – budget cycles, hiring cycles, appropriation document preparation
- Meeting customer service expectations of researchers – what are others providing that we aren’t.
- Providing everyone in the research enterprise the tools and resources to be good storytellers, elevator speech, etc.