Annual Reports and Individual Development Plans

Annual Reports and Individual Development Plans (IDPs) should be completed and submitted to the Main Office by the final day of the summer semester. The steps of the process are outlined below. This may take significant time, especially for 2nd Year students, so we encourage you to work on your plan throughout the summer.

The graduate student Annual Report and IDP process has several steps:

1. Student creates the following documents:

   1. CV

   2. Research report (in the appropriate style for the year)

   3. IDP  (for the appropriate year)

   4. For 2^nd year only, one pager/specific aims document. See the "Second Year Documents and Prelim Prep" section below for additional information.

2. [COMING JUNE 2024] Student completes their annual report submission form and uploads all their documents online through the Chemistry Department's new Annual Report Portal. The student should submit all forms by the deadline set by their advisor. The advisor's deadline might be several weeks before the department's deadline, especially in the case of 2nd year students, to allow time for additional discussion.

   1. Starting in June 2024, students will submit all of their forms through the Chemistry Department's Annual Report Portal (currently being built (not sure what we will be naming it yet)).

   2. The new digital submission process instructions will be communicated by the Main Office as soon as possible. 

3. The online Annual Report Portal routes all documents to the student's advisory committee members.

4. Student and Advisor meet to review all documents, and to discuss the completed Research Evaluation form. 

5. For the 2^nd year only, committee members complete their committee evaluation form online via the Annual Review Portal. The new digital evaluation form for committee members will include a box for committee members to include any comments they have on the student's one pager/specific aims document (see "Second Year Documents and Prelim Prep" section below). Second year students will automatically receive a copies of each advisory committee member's evaluation after all evaluations have been completed.

6. The completed and fully evaluated Annual Report will be filed electronically through the Annual Report portal. The Main Office will review completed evaluations through the Annual Report Portal and try to ensure that all students and their advisors and/or advisory committees have finished their part in the process. Students, advisory committee members, and the Main Office may review annual report materials at any time in the Annual Report Portal after the evaluation process has been completed.

Specific Instructions for Each Year

CV: For all years, the CV should be should be written in a style consistent with the type of position that the student plans to seek following completion of the degree.

Research Report: All research reports should summarize research questions and accomplishments, and should set goals for research in the following year. Year-specific requirements include:

• First year: Two pages maximum
• Second year: See "Second Year Documents and Prelim Prep" section below
• Third year: Five pages maximum
• Fourth year and beyond: Five pages maximum. The report should include a timeline for completion of the degree, and an outline of the planned dissertation.

IDP: Templates for Individual Development Plans are available on the College website at www.science.purdue.edu/graduate/idp.html. Please read through the information and instructions provided and then click on “Chemistry” in the left-hand column. There are three different forms, one for first-year, one for second-year, and one for third-year and beyond. Choose the template for your year and complete your IDP.

As an additional professionalization resource, we recommend you visit Science Careers: myIDP. Using myIDP is not required but it does provide: Exercises to help you examine your skills, interests, and values; a list of 20 scientific career paths with a prediction of which ones best fit your skills and interests; a tool for setting strategic goals for the coming year, with optional reminders to keep you on track; and articles and resources to guide you through the process. It is free to use.

Second Year Documents and Prelim Prep

The second year annual report is intended to help prepare students for their preliminary exams as they head into their third year in the program. For this reason, there are several unique requirements related to the second year report:

• One Page Specific Aims Document: 

  Students should submit a “One Page”/Specific Aims page, providing a broad outline of their potential Original Proposal idea. The purpose of this document is to help students work towards preparing their original proposal idea early, and to get committee feedback before the formal report is written. This document will also serve as a model/tool for introducing students to the level of academic writing and ideas that the faculty will expect to see in their original proposals.

  Committee members will read the Specific Aims document and may provide some feedback to students prior to receiving the final Original Proposal document. There is a check box on the annual report cover sheet where the committee members will acknowledge that they have received and read this plan. It is their option to provide feedback to the student if the topic does not look suitable either due to being overly similar to the thesis research described in their 2nd year report or low significance. Providing feedback to the student is encouraged as identifying issues with topic selection after the full proposal is written is disruptive for students and committee members alike.

  The topic of this one-page document is flexible; this document does not bind a student to this topic if they deem it no longer appropriate after additional research and consultation with committee members.  

• 2nd Year Research Report

  The second year research report provides the foundation for the Dissertation Research Summary, which is one of the documents required for the preliminary exam. For that reason, students should spend extra time developing their report over the summer. As with the research report for other years, the second research report should summarize research questions and accomplishments, and should set goals for research in the future.

  The second-year report should be modeled on the format of a three-page JACS Communication with the appropriate listing of citations using ACS style. The report should conclude with a brief section on future research plans.