Individual Development Plans

Individual development plans (IDP) are a great way to organize your thoughts on future career goals, what skills you want to build as a researcher in the lab, and what your interests and expertise are.

You can use an IDP to track your progress and to help your mentor (me) help you reach your goals! We can also use the IDP to break larger career goals (go to med school, get a phd, etc) into smaller goals (learn energy reserve assays, design an experiment, learn coral husbandry, present a poster, go to a conference, etc).

A goal in our lab is for me to have an individual meeting with you at the start and end of each semester to review your IDP. At the start of the term we will talk about your goals and how we can help you reach them over the course of the term. At the end of the term, we will reflect on how that process went! If you are finding that you are not making the progress you would like, we will consider options (moving labs, trying a new project, etc). This process is meant to help you meet your goals (and learn what your goals are) and for me to help support you and improve my mentoring skills!

You can access the AAAS / Science Careers online IDP here: https://myidp.sciencecareers.org/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

You can also use my IDP template (google sheets) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PyfxjCM65KBaZ7HXfNElp5-qYtyikncvio83u8kEkf8/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to download and complete or make a copy for your own use!

*Note that my IDP template comes with a second sheet for recording your hours, projects, and activities. If helpful, I am happy to discuss how to manage time and plan project in more detail.