When Wisconsin Sea Grant funds a project, it changes more than a field of research. Students are an important part of almost every project it supports— including more than 700 graduate students since the program began in 1968.
Jennifer Hauxwell, assistant director for research and student engagement, said, “Students not only perform much of the field work, laboratory work, data analyses and outreach related to the research that is funded by Sea Grant, they will become the future leaders for water science, education and policy in Wisconsin and beyond. An important outcome of our research grants is the student training and expertise that results.”
Through their experiences with Sea Grant, those students gain life-changing experience in their fields as well as forming connections with other scientists.
To further those connections, Amulya Rao, a current graduate student, conducted a survey of past Sea Grant-funded students, combined the results with an earlier alumni survey and created a resource that contains profiles and aninteractive map showing locations and profiles of more than 100 former students, categorized by academic, government and private-sector positions. These profiles include a description of the former student’s current job, his/her advice to students interested in pursuing a similar career, and skills and experiences sought after in that field. A search function allows users to locate a specific person, place, organization or career. Additional articles about students are also available.
Rao said, “This networking tool will be so useful for students who are exploring different career options…It was fascinating for me to see how the Sea Grant experience translated to so many different types of careers.”
We really appreciate all of the alumni who have responded so far. If you were supported by Sea Grant as a graduate student and haven’t yet participated, please take the 5 to 10-minute survey.
