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Developing a Research and Teaching Portfolio

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Pranesh Aswath

Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, College of Engineering

Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering,

University of Texas at Arlington

Welcome to today’s CIRTLCast

What are the 3 most important elements of a Research

Portfolio?Respond below by using the textbox tool (the 4th icon down on the vertical toolbar to the left)

Duane Dimos

Vice President for Research,

University of Texas at Arlington

What are the 3 most important elements of a Teaching

Portfolio?Respond below by using the textbox tool (the 4th icon down on the vertical toolbar to the left)

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Faculty Careers at Different Types of Institutions

Welcome & introductions

Discussion with Pranesh Aswath and Duane Dimos

Event feedback (1 minute survey)

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Where are you in your academic career?

Questions? Comments?

A) Doctoral student

B) Postdoc

C) Other

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Where would your ideal long-term job be?

Questions? Comments?A) 2-year institution (Teaching)

B) 4-year institution (Teaching and

Research)

C) Comprehensive (Teaching and

Research)

D) Industry

E)National Laboratory

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Elements of a Teaching Portfolio

• What is your philosophy as a Teacher?– How do you foster critical thinking and problem solving?– How do you orient students towards your discipline?– How do you lay out expectations for your class?– How do you enhance classroom engagement?– How do you introduce new and emerging concepts into your lectures both

at the undergraduate and graduate level.

• How do you achieve the Objectives in the Classroom?– Are you aware of learning strategies and curriculum development?– Are you able to use active learning strategies in your classroom? Which

ones? How?– Are you open to new learning methods as they evolve?– Have you experimented with leveraging social media in teaching class?

Discussion groups? Virtual collaboration?– Have you presented any of the learning methods in a conference e.g.

ASEE?

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• How do you Measure Learning Outcomes?– Are you teaching to the exam or are you fostering independent thinking?

How do you measure this?– Do you have open ended exercises or standard exercises?– Are you familiar using a LMS to measure outcomes?– Have you used peer assessment in your classroom? How have you

implemented it?– How do you use learning outcomes at every stage of your class to tailor

your teaching approach.– Have you considered asking students short questions in the middle of a

class ask them to record a response on a card or on an electronic tool such as i-clicker etc.

– Concept Maps: They are graphic ways of representing students knowledge. By providing specific questions you can help students develop a list of relevant concepts and differentiate it from facts.

– Knowledge Portfolio: A knowledge portfolio is a collection of evidence that makes a good argument to demonstrate competencies you have. “Evidence” means a set of skills that make you an effective educator.

Elements of a Teaching Portfolio

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Can you provide one example of what you do well in a classroom and one example of where you have difficulties?

A. Example of an area in teaching where you excel.

B. Example of an area in teaching where you struggle.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio



• Overall Structure of the Portfolio needs to address the following points.– The cover letter with your application must include excerpts of your

research and teaching plan.– Introduce your research area in a way that is understandable by

researchers in academia, industry and national lab. – Lay out the significance of the project: What is known? What is unknown?

Why is it important? What is the impact? – How is it related to your research preparation? Do you have the tools

needed to achieve the goals?– How do the projects you lay out relate to the mission and priorities of the

institution that you are applying to… Do your homework on institution you are applying to.

– Who will support your research? Do not talk about generalities I.e. NSF, NIH etc… be specific.

– Give credit where it is due and never exaggerate your accomplishments. This does not mean you have to hide your achievements. Keep a balance.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio/Plan



• Applying to a Comprehensive Research University?– Know the university you are applying to. What are they

looking for? Read the advertisement carefully. – Make sure you have your resume is laid out clearly and

your accomplishments are clearly broken up into sections.

– If you are in the medical field pick some specific aims for your research. In engineering, make sure you have no more than 3 projects to focus on.• First project should be certainly doable and have immediate

impact on your career and can be done with start up funds• Second project should be futuristic and have a good chance to

succeed and have funding potential. • Third project can be high risk, high impact and futuristic in

nature.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio/Plan



• Applying to a Comprehensive Research University?– The hypothesis for each of the projects must be laid out clearly.– Use graphics and illustrations to make your point. A figure or

diagram can help explain a point easier than a number of words.– The impact of each of your projects must be clearly elucidated.

Why should someone care?– Does the institution you are applying to have the infrastructure to

support your research? Do your background on this to see if you can leverage existing facilities for your research.

– When applying to academic institutions, showing an awareness of the source of funding for your research is examined carefully, provide details of specific divisions in funding agencies where your research is a priority.

– Keep the length of the research plan to 4-5 pages at most.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio/Plan



• Applying to a Four Year Institution?– The research portfolio should be geared towards undergraduate

research.– Expand on your experience in mentoring undergraduates in the research

lab of your supervisor both as a graduate student and a Post doc.– Develop a plan to introduce research experience in the curriculum. – Elaborate on how teaching and research at the undergraduate level can

be handled and your vision for this.– Will you be developing an NSF-CCLI (Course Curriculum Laboratory

Improvement) proposal to support your plan?– Will you able to work with a collaborator at a comprehensive research

institution to send your students for a summer research experience?– Keep your research plan to 2 pages.

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Can you provide one example of what your strength and weakness are in writing research proposal?

A. Example of an area of strength in writing proposal.

B. Example of an area where you struggle in research proposal formulation.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio/Plan

• Applying to a National Lab?– Post Doctoral positions in different research groups.– Find a match with your research background and read the position description

carefully, it is generally written in enough detail to provide you an idea of the position.

– Contact the individual at the national lab that has the opening and discuss the opening with him/her. The contact is important to put you on the radar.

– Develop a short white paper/research proposal for a position that fits the description of the open position.

– Try to find opportunities to spend summer’s or semester’s at the National Lab during your dissertation work so that you develop contacts at the national lab.

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Elements of a Research Portfolio/Plan

• Applying to a Industry?– Industry research jobs are more targeted than academic and

national lab positions.– Your cover letter should highlight your accomplishments in a very

succinct fashion and should not be more than 1 page long.– Your resume should not be more than 3-4 pages in length. Shorter

resume’s with the highlights are important.– Having a good Linkedin profile that details your skill set is

extremely important.– Have a headhunter help you find an industry position.– Your resume should highlight some of your translational work.– Make contacts in industry while you pursuing your Ph.D. e.g.

conferences, workshops etc.

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Questions or Comments?Please type below

Pranesh Aswath

Duane Dimos

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Thank you for joining today’s CIRTLCast!

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Wrap Up

This is our last CIRTLCast until January

when we resume with:

Assessing What Students are Learning

January 13, 2016

Have safe and happy holidays!