Needs, potential solutions and challenges for making US STEM doctoral training to align with student career paths

Driven by the fact that a great majority of STEM PhD graduates will be employed in non-academic jobs, primarily in industry (defined broadly to include private corporations, national labs, defense organizations, etc.), there is a growing recognition that the present format of doctoral training does not prepare them sufficiently for a career outside academia. In response to this need to fill the gap, recently a new student-centered model of STEM doctorate, Pasteur Partners PhD (P3), based on use-inspired research was developed. Industry-university partnership is a requirement of this model, which calls for a concerted participation of industry experts in the training of student through identification of industry-relevant research problem, mentoring by co-advising about how to approach its practical solution, and other non-technical skills that are equally important for success in industry. We will examine an assessment of this model, which shows overwhelming student interest. However, faculty participation, intellectual property agreements, and expectations of faculty tenure/promotion and funding agencies remain as major challenges. We will share the results of student demand and their experience with its non-traditional features, support of university administration, feedback from industry co-advisers and the challenges felt by interested faculty advisers in implementing the industry-university doctoral training (P3) program.