The Graduate Engineering Research Scholars (GERS) is much more than financial support. It is a program that empowers students by facilitating community gatherings for peer support, providing professional development opportunities, and connecting fellows with resources on and off campus for their advancement as scholars.
The GERS Community is one among several Graduate Research Scholar communities organized by various schools and colleges within UW-Madison to support underrepresented students.
As this program is designed to enhance the community of graduate research scholars on campus, GERS scholars are expected to participate in gatherings, sponsored workshops, and special events. The time commitment is not meant to be a burden, as ultimately each student will need to develop an independent body of research, scholarly work, and/or professional portfolio.
Community Engagement
Volunteering & Outreach
GERS gives back through outreach education and mentoring/recruiting underrepresented students to the College of Engineering. The outreach committee plans 7+ events per year at local schools. The OPPS (Opportunities in Engineering Conference) and SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) programs are the main recruiting events, but GERS students also recruit through their alma mater by meeting with groups that serve diversity in STEM disciplines.
Social
The GERS Social Committee plans events throughout the year for students. Additionally, there are many unofficial gatherings, celebrations, and events that end up happening as students become friends. Most recently, GERS has partnered with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to get more informal exposure to technology transfer, patents, and intellectual property via networking in seminars and tailgates.
Academic
Each year, GERS has a poster session either during the OPPS Conference or in the spring with SciMed GRS. Additionally, there is unofficial peer-to-peer mentoring throughout the year. GERS students help each other out, from borrowing lab equipment to editing fellowship essays for each other. Each year, multiple GERS Scholars present their research posters at different national conferences.
Professional Development
GERS encourages networking with alumni as well as professional development within and outside of the program. This participation in a network of successful alumni enhances the success of our graduates. Additionally, both group meetings and smaller focus meetings regularly have alum or other academics/professionals talk with the students about a broad range of topics: career paths, diversity in the workplace, stress management, etc.