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Rising Doctoral Institute

Two students work in a lab.

Strategy. Support. Community. Degree completion.

As part of a six-university NSF-funded consortium, the Iowa State College of Engineering implements the Rising Doctoral Institute (RDI) to provide structured support for new PhD students. The RDI is a workshop series that develops students’ abilities to successfully navigate the PhD program and address issues students encounter that impact retention and graduation.

Rising Doctoral Institute

All new PhD students to the College of Engineering are invited to participate in RDI. The RDI workshop series consists of:

  • A three-hour retreat at the beginning of each semester to establish base learnings and goals
  • Bi-weekly 90-minute working lunch meetings.

Rising Doctoral Institute Goal: To support participants in successfully earning their PhD in a timely fashion and pursuing careers post PhD.

The objectives are to:

  • Build community – a space where CoE doctoral students feel welcome and accepted; a space for learning and processing
  • Recognize and articulate experiences of being a doctoral student who holds various identities or who is international
  • Help understand the “big picture” of graduate school
  • Recognize, develop, and actualize the ability to navigate graduate school and post-graduate school life.

One of most impactful support systems I’ve had this year.

Student Participant in Rising Doctoral Institute

Additional information on Rising Doctoral Institute

RDI provides an opportunity to:Students working in a lab.

  • Implement a student-centric approach because of its non-content-specific position in the college
  • Help students understand the realities of being a PhD student
  • Support students in aligning their expectations accordingly
  • Provide structures to develop supportive peer relationships among students across disciplines.
  • Help students navigate the various environments and relationships encountered during a PhD program.

The Iowa State College of Engineering RDI implementation is grounded in the research literature on sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and counter space and is designed to:

  • Focus on the human factor of being an engineering PhD student;
  • Develop understandings, skills, and strategies; and
  • Support participants’ metacognitive awareness of their experiences, perceptions of their experiences, and their actions/reactions to their experiences.
Students work with a professor on some lab equipment.

RDI is the reason I made it through the first semester.

Student Participant in Rising Doctoral Institute

Benefits of Participating in Rising Doctoral Institute

Previous participants have identified these benefits:

  • Provides support with PhD things – helps you to understand how to navigate the program, the requirements, how to progress through research, and the place of process and results in the journey
  • Develops connections and relationships
  • Provides opportunities to learn from experienced peers
  • Provides opportunities to learn from peers in different programs
  • Supports learning how to more effectively communicate with major professors
  • Facilitates learning how to establish goals and understand progress/success
  • Supports learning how to understand and navigate perceptions and experiences – supported the psychological things they were going through
  • Helps them understand that leadership cares about them as people.

Students also appreciated the consistency and repetition of the message that they belonged in the environment, they were smart enough, and that their experiences were very normal.

The development of a sense of community, relationship-building, and a safe space to learn and process with and from each other are strengths of the RDI.

All previous students would recommend RDI to incoming PhD students:

  • RDI is a friendly environment with nice people that want to help you in different aspects of your life and also help you to be resilient in this challenging journey – we need support in different areas – RDI is the best
  • RDI provides insights from experienced people
  • RDI provides a community to pass through this phase of life
  • RDI can open your mind to better know what PhD life is
  • RDI puts everything together, including self-care.
Student working in a lab

If you want to finish your PhD, join RDI.

Student Participant in Rising Doctoral Institute

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

All incoming PhD students in the Iowa State College of Engineering are invited to participate in RDI. Participation is limited to 60 students.

Individuals are required to complete an application process to be considered for participation in RDI. Responses to two open-ended questions are the only information considered in the application process.

RDI is a year-long initiative. To fully benefit from the experience, participants are asked to fully engage in each and every session.

RDI requires little time outside of the actual sessions. There are two-three hour retreats at the beginning of each semester. There are bi-weekly 90-minutes sessions, which includes a 30-minute lunch/snack and socializing opportunity.

Individuals who consistently attend sessions the academic year earn a formal certificate of completion for their professional portfolio. Individuals who attend a majority of the sessions earn a formal letter of participation.

Previous participants did not identify any “costs” to participating in RDI.

RDI is an in-person experience. Participating virtually is not an option and sessions are not recorded.

The Iowa State College of Engineering RDI implementation is grounded in the research literature on sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and counterspace and is designed to:

  • Focus on the human factor of being an engineering PhD student;
  • Develop understandings, skills, and strategies; and
  • Support participants’ metacognitive awareness of their experiences, perceptions of their experiences, and their actions/reactions to their experiences.

Former participants identified the development of a sense of community, relationship-building, and a safe space to learn and process with and from each other as strengths of the RDI.

Some of the topics discussed in RDI are:

  • Establishing the context of graduate school and RDI
  • SMART goals and timelines
  • Understanding our experiences
  • Understanding our need/Communication and Relationships
  • COE Program Management
  • Academic writing and presenting
  • U.N. Into Actions: Generalizations, Assumptions, and Imposter Syndrome
  • Health and Wellness
  • Life Post-PhD: Options and Opportunities
  • Student Chosen Topics

The Preparing Future Faculty program is a university-wide effort to offer additional teaching, mentoring, and learning possibilities to provide postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, and master’s students for an academic career and provide further credentialing to be competitive on the academic job market.

The overarching goal of PFF is to better prepare graduate students and post docs for faculty careers at a variety of institutions.

The Rising Doctoral Institute is a college-level effort to help students understand the reality of being a PhD student and support them in aligning their expectations accordingly. RDI provides structures to develop supportive relationships with students across disciplines.

It helps them navigate the various environments and relationships encountered during a PhD program. The intent is to support a timely completion of the PhD program.