Across STEM, Individual Development Plans (IDPs) have been used to support the career and professional development of graduate students and postdocs. While there is broad support for the use of IDPs, minimal evidence-based research exists to quantify the impact of IDP use. Assessment is complicated by the different IDP ideologies, frameworks, and tools that exist, as well as the different ways IDP creation process is facilitated. The goal of the NSF-funded Impact Indicators and Instruments for Individual Development Plans (I3IDP) project is to develop instruments to measure the impact of IDPs on trainee development. The development of these assessment instruments will facilitate the generation of comparable data within and across organizations to enhance the understanding of best practices in IDP use for STEM career planning. In this webinar we will present the core components of the IDP process as determined from stakeholder (i.e., career counselors, trainees that use IDPs, mentors that use IDPs to facilitate IDP processes etc.) interviews and literature review, give participants a preview of the survey instruments, and discuss how IDP intervention can be used to provide more equitable training and career planning to graduate students and postdocs.

Laura M. O’Dwyer, Ph.D., is a professor in the Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment department at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Her expertise is in the areas of quantitative research methods and design, instrument development, and advanced data analysis.

Corrie Y. Kuniyoshi, Ph.D., is the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation-funded grant, Impact Indicators and Instruments for the Individual Development Plans, which studies IDP efficacy. Kuniyoshi received a doctoral degree in chemistry from UCLA. She has over 15 years of experience at the ACS. While at ACS, Kuniyoshi led the development of ACS’ ChemIDP.org, was executive editor of the ACS Graduate & Postdoctoral Chemist magazine, and developed a number of career and professional development resources for graduate students and postdocs.

Joerg Schlatterer, Ph.D., leads the American Chemical Society (ACS) Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Office. Schlatterer studied chemistry in Berlin and received his doctoral degree in Heidelberg (Germany) in 2003. He served as assistant dean of faculty professional development at Columbia University Medical Center, and as program officer at the National Science Foundation prior to joining ACS. At ACS, he helps advance research on career and professional development and broadening participation efforts.