NSF Introduces Grad Mentoring Requirement

Effective May 20, institutions applying for funding from the National Science Foundation are required to have detailed policies for graduate student mentorship.

Applications must also include plans for training graduate students, and principal investigators are required to certify annually that individualized mentorship plans are in place for all graduate and postdoctoral students involved in NSF-funded grants.

“The old days of ‘look to the left look to the right, one of the three of you won’t be here when graduation comes around’ — those days are gone,” said Sylvia Butterfield, deputy assistant director of NSF’s STEM Education Directorate, at a webinar last month about the new requirements. “Future STEM talent is a valuable national resource and we cannot squander the opportunity to prepare that talent to persist in STEM,” she said.

This news brief originally appeared in FYI’s newsletter for the week of May 20.