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HKN Graduate Student

Survey Results

Joseph Greene

Chair, Graduate Student Activities Subcommittee

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Who Answered our Survey?

Participants

Total responses: 54
Diverse student status & degree paths

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Grad Student Activity

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What Are Grad Students Looking For?

What are you goals after graduation?

[64%] Entering Industry
[48%] Entering Academia
[46%] Building Professional Network
[40%] Developing a Startup
[36%] Becoming a Mentor

HKN Focuses in Near Future?

[74%] Networking & Mentorship w/ Professionals
[46%] Community Building w/ Peers
[44%] Skills Building & Seminars
[44%] Skills to Succeed in Technical Career
[44%] Demystifying Industry & Academia
[42%] Business & Entrepreneurship Skills

Satisfaction Score

Stats: 6.44 +- 2.23
Action Item: Address commonalities

in low (<4) scores

Many Grads missed by chapters!

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What Programs are Lacking - Key Comments

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What Programs are Lacking - Summary

Resources & Skills

Reassurance

Finding post grad positions

Finding best post-grad option. What if first choice doesn’t workout

Staying up-to-date

(fear of irrelevance)

Basic student, research & mentorship skills

Feeling like Ph.D. isn’t yielding

right skills or opportunities

Grow network &

find mentors!

Soft skills (self-advertising, communication, team management)

Real world experience

(on-the-job)

Entrepreneurship & turning

knowledge into profit

Is grad school worth the

investment (time/money)?

Feeling alone & lacking

supportive community

Missing basic technical skills/knowledge

Successfully transitioning to & navigating industry/academia

Most

Common

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What do Grad Students Like in a Chapter?

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What can HKN Improve?

Comments from Grads

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What We Learned from You

There are many aspects that might be missing from your experience in your program where we can help:

Mentoring or Networking Opportunities
Supportive community to help mitigate the unique challenges of grad school
Opportunities to grow basic technical and soft skills
Enable grad students to better select between and find a position in industry or academia
Feature graduate student efforts (projects, research, etc) and provide opportunities to share experiences

Many graduate students enjoy the community local chapters provide

HKN will continue to encourage chapters to advertise to and induct graduate students
HKN can feature best practices are designed for graduate students

There are a lot of questions about the right path during and after grad school

What doors does a grad degree open?
What is the return on investment?
How is it like transferring from grad school to industry/academia?
What happens if your first choice doesn’t work out?

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First Steps Towards a Stronger Grad HKN

While not a complete solution, we are taking step towards engaging and recognizing our amazing graduate students with the content you want:

GradLab: A monthly webinar series to demystify the challenges of grad school and give graduate students tips and tools to thrive (Feat. Dr. Karen Panetta, Dean of Graduate Studies, Tufts University College of Eng.)

Next GradLab on November 16th at 6pm ET
Link TBD

Graduate Student Spotlights: Advertise your awesome research efforts in HKN’s The BRIDGE magazine (second most downloaded IEEE magazine) and on our social media channels! Fill out the form below to be selected.

Find the link in the Newsletter

Graduate Student Networking Night: Meeting with other HKN graduate students, professionals and alumni to expand your professional network while sharing your experiences.