Program Purpose
The purpose of iFEAT is to help female graduate students and post doctoral students in various STEM fields prepare faculty application materials with the end goal of applying for an academic position. They also learn more about the application process itself and other best practices.
Program Structure
A combination of seminars and peer review sessions allow for the participants to write and rewrite their personal application materials, better preparing them for the faculty application process. It also gives a unique platform for engineering education research involving women in STEM fields preparing for academia.
Statistics
The program is currently in its fourth year and has had a total of 58 participants as of the start of this year.
The department breakdown of participants can be seen below.
Program Beginning
iFEAT was started in 2014 by Elizabeth Horstman, Yanfen Li, Danielle Mai, and Professor Rohit Bhargava through the Graduate Society of Women Engineers (GradSWE) here at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. It has now evolved into its own RSO that works closely with GradSWE to provide opportunities for STEM graduate students and postdocs.