Have you ever wished you had support to take advantage of a professional or career development opportunity that lies outside the scope of your academic research? The UCSB Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars fill in the funding gaps for pursuing opportunities that support your professional development in a variety of career trajectories. Read on to learn more about the program!
Program Updates
The IPS program is accepting applications for the following types of experiences through June 30, 2025:
- Experiences that support internship exploration or preparation geared towards careers in the tech industry (open to grad students and postdocs in all disciplines).
- Experiences that support career exploration or preparation for grad students and postdocs in STEM disciplines.
Learn from our Awardees
Meet & Eats
Meet & Eats events where past awardees talk about their IPS-funded experiences with other grad students over lunch. You can sign up for Meet & Eats about 2 weeks prior. Simply search for "Meet & Eat" under the events tab on the GSRC's Shoreline page. We hope you'll join us for an upcoming event!
For Prospective Applicants
Awards up to $1200 are granted to eligible UCSB graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from any discipline who wish to individually tailor their career paths with outside professional development opportunities.
The IPS program is accepting applications for the following types of experiences through June 30, 2025:
- Experiences that support internship exploration or preparation geared towards careers in the tech industry (open to grad students and postdocs in all disciplines).
- Examples may include, but are not limited to:
- attendance at in-state,
- out-of-region industry trade shows or career-focused professional organization events to locate potential internship opportunities
- job shadowing to explore a potential internship placement
- skill training to increase competitiveness for tech industry internships and jobs.
- Examples may include, but are not limited to:
- Experiences that support career exploration or preparation for grad students and postdocs in STEM disciplines.
The purpose of the IPS program is to help grad students and postdocs assume greater agency in their own career path by funding exploration of a range of professional development opportunities across a variety of career and skill interests. The program also includes increased awareness of valuable experiences, career readiness, post-event follow through, and peer-to-peer networking.
Program Components
There are three key elements to the program:
- PRE-EXPERIENCE: Create an Individual Development Plan (IDP) and review it with a mentor
- EXPERIENCE: Awardees participate in the chosen career or professional development opportunity
- POST-EXPERIENCE: Awardees reflect on their experience and present it to their peers
After their experience is complete, awardees can either sign up to give a 10-minute presentation (including Q&A) at an in-person Meet & Eat or submit a 3- to 5-minute IPS Insights video about their experience. All awardees must also submit a written summary (max 300 words) of their experience, regardless of which presentation option they choose.
Note: Applicants seeking funding for opportunities $100 and under will be taken through a streamlined application process and are only required to submit the written post-experience summary (not give a Meet & Eat presentation or create an IPS Insights video).
Individual Development Plans (IDPs)
Applicants should use the UCSB IDP template along with these instructions.
Applicants must identify a mentor (e.g. career counselor, faculty advisor, professional/industry mentor) who can help them review this plan and discuss how to make the most of their upcoming experience to further their career preparedness and professional growth. Applicants in need of an IDP mentor may reach out to Graduate Career Counselor Maya Hargens (Maya.Hargens@sa.ucsb.edu).
While a completed IDP is not required in order to fill out the IPS grant application, we strongly recommend that applicants fill out this document before applying in order to strengthen their application. To learn more about IDPs, visit the Career Services website.
Eligibility Information
- Graduate students must be enrolled full time and in good academic standing.
- Grad students and postdocs from any discipline and of any citizenship status are eligible to apply.
- Grad students and postdocs scholars interested in careers in the tech industry or STEM disciplines.
- Must have at least 1 quarter remaining in graduate degree or postdoc appointment at the time of the experience, or be able to fulfill the post-experience grant requirements listed above.
- Groups/teams may apply, but each trainee who is requesting funding will be required to submit a separate IPS application and will be reviewed on an individual basis.
Award Details & Timeline
Applications are reviewed on a regular basis, and awards are granted as funding sources permit. The preferred application date is at least 1 month in advance of the experience, but since program funds are limited, we encourage interested applicants to submit as soon as possible.
The IPS Program is a collaboration between the Professional Development Series (PDS) at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships; the Graduate Division; the UCSB Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative and CNSI; Career Services; the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; UCSB SACNAS Career Pathways Program via DoD HBCU/MI award W911NF-20-1-0294; UCSB's divisional deans; and external donors.
Application Information
Interested applicants must complete an online form that includes information about themselves and their proposed opportunity. The application also calls for:
- A statement (500 words max) that describes the career/job skills you expect to gain from participating in this opportunity. Your answer should address the following questions:
- What are your larger career goals after graduation/completing postdoc training, and how will this opportunity help you achieve these goals?
- What skills or knowledge do you hope to gain that you wouldn’t be able to get at UCSB?
- How is this experience beyond the scope of your research program and support from your advisor/PI/research group?
- If applying as a group/team, please also reference the group motivation and how the group/team will benefit from all members participating.
- A statement (150 words max) describing any additional funding you have sought out, applied for, and/or been awarded for this opportunity
- (e.g., conference or professional society scholarships, lab or advisor funds, outside grants or fellowships).
- An itemized estimated budget for the proposed professional development opportunity. Information can include expenses such as travel, registration, lodging, food, etc. Awards are for a maximum of $1200 per applicant.
- Information about their Individual Development Plan (IDP), including mentor name and date of completion. Applicants may optionally upload their completed IDP.
Selection Criteria
Applications are evaluated based on these two broad criteria:
- Potential for substantive professional development and/or career learning
- Impact of the award to finance and enable engagement in the opportunity
The following rubric is used to evaluate applications, with each component being weighted equally:
- The applicant clearly states their larger career goals after graduation or the completion of their postdoc training and describes how this opportunity will help them achieve these goals.
- The applicant clearly describes the skills or knowledge they hope to gain from the opportunity that they wouldn't be able to get at UCSB or through their program/training.
- The applicant clearly demonstrated their career readiness or proximity to graduating/completing their postdoc training.
- This experience is beyond the scope of their research program.
- This experience is not fully supported by other sources of campus funding, such as GSA/Academic Senate grants or support from their advisor/PI/research group.
- The applicant clearly states a proposed budget and describes the impact that the funding would have on their ability to participate in the proposed opportunity.
Priority is given to applicants who have not received an IPS grant before.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, IPS funding is designed for experiences that are beyond the scope of your research and research conference attendance (see below for exceptions for affiliated events). We encourage you to apply for research conference funding through the GSA Conference Travel Grant and the Academic Senate Doctoral Student Travel Grants.
Yes, you can apply for funding to attend opportunities such as skills workshops, leadership institutes, trade shows, or other events that are affiliated with a research conference but would require you to travel independent of support for your research. In your application, you should demonstrate how this affiliated opportunity is distinct from your research-related goals at the conference, how it clearly fits into your career development goals, and why you will incur additional costs to attend this affiliated event outside of your regular travel to the research conference.
No, the IPS program is not designed to support opportunities related to your research.
Possibly, if you meet all other eligibility requirements. In your application, you should note any additional funding you have sought out, applied for, or been awarded for this opportunity.
Groups/teams may apply together, but members must contact Arica Lubin before applying to discuss plans for the experience. Each trainee who is requesting funding will be required to submit a separate IPS application and will be reviewed on an individual basis.
Yes, but program funds are limited and priority will be given to applicants who have not yet received an award.
In addition to the travel grants mentioned above provided by the Graduate Student Association and the Academic Senate, we also encourage you to check out information on the UCSB Beyond Academia career exploration conference and the UCSB Graduate Student Internship Fellowship Program.
There are a number of free training and informational resources available to UCSB students. See below for a list of some of them:
- UCSB Collaborate Student Support Center: Offers free workshops for UCSB students on different types of software, from Illustrator to Python. This is a great way to learn skills like new computer languages or how to create a marketing flyer. Workshops are offered throughout the quarter.
- Coursera:
- Linkedin Learning: Delivers video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. If you are an employee or a student employee at UCSB, you have free access through the UCSB Learning Center, otherwise, the platform is available for a monthly fee through LinkedIn Premium.
- New York Times: Browse all New York Times produced videos, blogs, newsletters, and subscriber events, and view the newspaper’s International, Spanish, and Chinese editions as well. Activities and lesson plans for students through the New York Times Resources for Teaching and Learning are also available with the UCSB subscription, and include interactive activities based on New York Times resources
- Washington Post: The Washington Post is a source for expert reporting and analysis from Washington, D.C., and around the world. With the subscription, UCSB affiliates will have unlimited digital access to content posted by The Washington Post, including reading articles, editorials and recipes on the website, using the apps, subscribing to newsletters and alerts, streaming access to press conferences, and playing games
Questions?
Email Arica Lubin (alubin@ucsb.edu) or Anna Theogarajan (anna.theogarajan@graddiv.ucsb.edu)