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Soham Jariwala has a unique perspective: He took the Hackathon course in 2022 and this spring is a project mentor alongside Vasu Venkateshwaran from W. L. Gore. & Associates. Jariwala, a doctoral alumnus from the chemical and biomolecular engineering department and now a modeling and simulation scientist at Gore, was not officially part of the NRT program but took the course to gain hands-on experience with using machine learning tools for industry projects, an experience that he said was formative in helping him succeed in his current role.

In a traditional classroom, you have a limited perspective on how projects are conducted in industry, Jariwala said. In the Hackathon class, you have a problem that even the industry experts don't know the answer to. As a team, you bring your own expertise, brainstorm ideas, find the best approach, and learn about other areas in order to reach a decision.

The summer after completing the Hackathon course, students in the NRT-MIDAS program have the option of either completing a summer internship or a two-week teaching workshop.

Alison Shapiro, a chemical engineering doctoral candidate working in the lab of Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished ProfessorThomas H. Epps, III, worked at Dow last summer as part of the companys cable and wire department. During her time at Dow, she looked for ways to recycle and more sustainably fabricate the insulating, protective polymers that coat electrical wires and conducted life cycle assessments for candidate materials.

Shapiro said that understanding the vernacular used to talk about chemicals during the Hackathon course was extremely helpful in completing her internship projects.

At Dow, they had the same way of talking about [formulations] as we did in the Hackathon class, which is different from how most academic research was done, she said. That was one of the things that translated over the most, and I initially had no idea that it was going to be so helpful.

Sean Farrington, who is also part of the first NRT cohort, is a doctoral candidate working under Unidel Robert L. Pigford ChairNorman Wagner and Arthur B. Metzner ProfessorAntony Beris. Last summer he completed a teaching workshop developed by NRT core faculty member and associate professorJoshua Enszer, which involved presentations about class preparation and teaching strategies followed by each student delivering a mock lecture and receiving constructive feedback.

Farrington, who is currently a TA in the chemical engineering department, regularly uses a list of action verbs provided by Enszer when preparing to teach. He said that the workshop was invaluable, not only for his current career plans of working in academia but because no matter what job you have, you are always going to have to teach people something, and to do so you need to figure out exactly what your learning outcomes are, he said.

Outside of the programs coursework and professional development activities, NRT-MIDAS also fosters a strong sense of community that reaches across multiple departments.

This includes a biweekly NRT community hour organized by Johnston and Jayaraman, where all members of the NRT-MIDAS community get together during the lunch hour. Along with socializing over pizza, students get to hear invited speakers discuss their research in academic and national laboratories, learn about various STEM careers in industry, publishing, and teaching, and attend professional development workshops on topics such as data ethics, responsible conduct of research, and science communication.

As NRT program coordinator, Johnston plays a key role in helping foster this sense of community, from helping students become comfortable with public speaking and communication during their outreach activities to hosting monthly individual advising meetings with all of the trainees, which Johnston said is the highlight of her week.

Not only do I enjoy getting to know our students, but they also provide valuable information on what they need from us as a program, Johnston said. These meetings have helped influence our professional skill community hour topics and have given us the ability to really cater to the needs of the students in our program.

During the summer, students work in teams to complete an outreach activity that showcases STEM research and data science concepts for a variety of non-scientific audiences.

In the summer of 2022, the first cohort createdvideos to help explain their research and pique other students interest in science.

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Computers and chemistry | UDaily - University of Delaware