Graduate students interact with faculty, to the benefit of both

By Tom Ventsias

When one thinks of student life at the University of Maryland, there is a tendency to focus on the university’s 25,000 undergraduates. There are also 10,000 graduate students, however, that are essential to the university’s mission of research, education and outreach. These master’s and doctoral candidates from 140 different countries provide support for faculty researchers, serve as teaching or administrative assistants, and greatly contribute to the university’s diversity and international flavor.

Laura Moore
Photo: Anne McDonough

No one ever said graduate school was easy, though. “When I was a teaching assistant, and taking classes, and doing research … I was basically working 24/7,” says Laura Moore, graduating this month with a master’s degree in entomology. “It is a challenge—a daily negotiation process to try and balance everything in order to do each of them to the best of your ability.”

While Moore says she liked teaching freshmen biology as one of the university’s 2,000 graduate teaching assistants, she also admits there was a trade-off: “I really enjoyed making the science accessible to first-year students, but the time spent trying to do right by my students affected my own education and my research responsibilities—and sometimes it was problematic.”

The university is implementing a 10-year strategic plan this fall that includes provisions to improve conditions for graduate students. There are plans to upgrade graduate stipends, provide stronger faculty mentoring, and increase the amount of available and affordable housing for graduate students.

Moore has been a strong advocate on these issues, serving for the past two years as president of the Graduate Student Government. “We’ve done a lot of work to raise visibility of both the contributions we make and the quality of life issues that we face,” she says.

Charles Caramello, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School, expects recruitment of the very best graduate students to be one of the university’s top priorities in the next few years. “We have excellent students now and with additional resources and incentives that are laid out in the strategic plan, we anticipate that the best and brightest minds from around the world will want to come to Maryland,” he says.

Perhaps the greatest contribution of graduate students is their interaction with faculty on important projects involving research and scholarship. “In research you have to have fresh ideas, new people, new blood … and I think a lot of that comes from the participation of graduate students,” Moore says.

Jaganath Sankaran
Photo: Anne McDonough

This collaborative effort in the research process benefits faculty, and is invaluable for students. “What ultimately distinguishes you in the marketplace is the quality of your research,” says Jaganath Sankaran, graduating this May with a master’s degree in engineering and public policy.

Sankaran was instrumental in promoting Graduate Research Interaction Day (GRID), a one-day event in April that showcased research by graduate students, allowing them to have their work judged by Maryland faculty. More than 160 graduate students were involved in this year’s GRID, almost double the number from 2007.

“GRID gives graduate students the experience—and confidence—they will need later on as they begin to present their research at national or international conferences and forums,” Sankaran says.

Sankaran, who was recently awarded a University of Maryland Flagship Fellowship to pursue his doctorate in public policy, appreciates the strong collaboration between faculty researchers and graduate students. “We sometimes have different perspectives on problem solving, and this diversity of thought provides for new ideas and innovative solutions,” he explains.

Many graduate students also have professional experience, working for a few years before returning to school for graduate studies. This familiarity with business and industry certainly brings depth and experience to the research process as well, Sankaran says.

This year’s GRID event also featured a panel discussion on faculty mentoring, an integral part of the graduate student experience. Mary Corbin Sies, an associate professor of American Studies who was on the panel, says that one of the goals of mentoring is to “embolden the student—help them move their research in new directions.”

Mentoring is an investment of time that is well spent, she says. “You learn so much from the students you mentor. And for me, the center of mentoring has to do with fostering intellectual exchange, and fostering a goal on both the part of mentor and mentee of moving toward excellence.”