Attendees of the UIDP Listening Session brainstorm ideas during breakout sessions. Photo credit: Sophia Dagnello
The landscape of doctoral education is changing. Nearly half of today’s PhD graduates pursue careers in industry, but traditional fellowship models often lack clear pathways for the transition. At the same time, recent changes to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program have created new urgency to explore sustainable alternatives for supporting graduate education.
On September 3, the University of Minnesota partnered with the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) to host a listening session focused on developing new models for doctoral fellowships. The event brought together leaders from industry and academia—including R&D managers, graduate deans, faculty, and students—to identify barriers and opportunities for more effective partnerships between universities, government, and the private sector. The event featured participants from three universities and five companies, including: Shashank Priya, vice president for research and innovation and JoonHyung Cho, assistant vice president for external affairs and communications, from the University of Minnesota; Tony Boccanfuso, president and CEO of UIDP; and David Rothamer, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, attendees of this highly participatory session helped identify critical gaps and barriers to effective partnerships and brainstormed ideas for non-traditional, high-impact approaches to increasing industry investments in U.S. doctoral studies. It included presentations, engaging large-group discussions, and breakout discussions on the topics of student research life cycles, intellectual property issues, employment status, financial management, and program life cycle. Participants were encouraged to openly share ideas for innovative, jointly funded fellowship programs that could increase industry investment in doctoral studies while supporting student training for diverse career paths.
Insights from the session, including how to engage with students from any year of their doctoral program, how to manage intellectual property (IP) issues, and whether employees maintain full-time status, will inform UIDP’s broader initiative to design a pilot framework for U.S.-based, jointly funded PhD programs. These efforts aim to strengthen the nation’s STEM workforce by connecting academic training with real-world applications, ensuring that doctoral education continues to drive innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth.
This initial session is part of a larger initiative, followed by a series of virtual town halls throughout September that are open to all interested stakeholders. The project will culminate in a two-day workshop at the NSF Headquarters in Alexandria, VA, where the goal is to finalize a pilot program for a jointly funded Ph.D. model.