(521g) Integrating Professional Skills into Graduate STEM Education

Equipping students with professional skills is critical in preparing engineering undergraduates for successful careers. There is also growing recognition of the vital role these skills play in ensuring the success of graduate students, owing to the increasingly competitive and interdisciplinary nature of the modern workforce. But despite this acknowledged importance, the integration of professional skill development into graduate curricula, especially in a manner that addresses the distinct needs of graduate students, remains underexplored. Here, we show how professional skills have been introduced to prepare students in the Master of Biotechnology (MBIOT) program at Texas A&M University, a professional STEM Master’s (PSM) program enabling students to receive critical interdisciplinary training that includes strong business, professional development, and experiential components. Here, we describe three strategies to embed professional skills within the graduate curriculum. First, we embedded new activities and deliverables into a core seminar course framed in terms of a personal business model described in the book Business Model You: A One-Page Method for Reinventing Your Career by Osterwalder et al. These activities encourage students to undertake a professional inventory and articulate their career interests and objectives through personal statements. This not only aids students in defining their professional trajectory but also acquaints them with foundational entrepreneurship principles. Second, we embedded a new bioethics module inspired by the 2018 best-selling book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, chronicling the rise and fall of the biotech startup Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes. This module, delivered in a "book club" format, promotes engagement and discussions about vital ethical considerations in biotech ventures. Third, recognizing the importance of effective communication in science and engineering fields, the curriculum now includes a dedicated module aimed at refining students' abilities to convey scientific concepts to diverse audiences through compelling storytelling. These curriculum innovations have bolstered the students’ professional skills, contributing to the broader objective of preparing well-rounded engineering professionals.