Professional Development and Leadership

Professional Development and Leadership

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Professional development and leadership opportunities are key components of our graduate education. Through several carefully designed programs, graduate students gain practical experience and transferable skills that complement their research and prepare them to launch their careers.

Programs

Daniel J. Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program

The Daniel J. Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program (GradEL) develops MIT graduate students into technical leaders who will be more effective, efficient, and successful across all aspects of their professional lives.

GradEL offers a selection of impactful courses designed to help students achieve new levels of personal and professional success across technical disciplines. The skills developed in these courses are further strengthened through interactive workshops throughout the year and a range of qualifying courses offered in partnership with other MIT departments.

The program builds on students’ technical education by allowing them to practice identifying worthy problems to solve, developing highly effective teams, creating innovative solutions, and communicating an inspiring vision.

Students can work towards earning the Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership — a powerful addition to any résumé and LinkedIn profile. Many PhD students can fulfill their departmental minor requirement via GradEL classes and electives.

GradEL
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A classroom filled with adults sitting at desks, working on laptops and having discussions in small groups. Coats and bags are draped over chairs, and the atmosphere is collaborative and focused.
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GradEL Engineering Residency

The GradEL Engineering Residency is a six-month, high-impact internship experience that allows students to put their classroom learning into practice while developing leadership capabilities. Working with leading companies such as Apple, OpenAI, and Northrop Grumman, participants gain hands-on experience while receiving supplemental instruction and one-on-one coaching from GradEL to strengthen their engineering leadership skills.

GradEL courses and workshops are open to all MIT graduate students.

GradEL Engineering Residency

Course Highlights

  1. 6.9280: Leading Creative Teams (required to earn certificate) – Spring & Fall
  2. 6.9240: Unpacking Impact: Transforming Research into Real-World Solutions – Spring
  3. 6.9250: Leadership – People, Products, Projects – Spring
  4. 6.9260 : Multi-Stakeholder Negotiation for Technical Experts – Spring
  5. 6.S650: Critical Conversations for Technical Leaders – Spring
  6. 6.9270 : Negotiation & Influence Skills for Technical Leaders – Fall
  7. 6.S630: Personal Engineering Leadership Development Plan Seminar – Fall H2

MIT School of Engineering Communication Lab

The MIT School of Engineering Communication Lab (Comm Lab) helps engineering students and postdocs strengthen the communication skills essential to their research and careers. Through one-on-one coaching with trained Communication Fellows, targeted workshops, and online tools, participants learn to write clearly, present effectively, and design visuals that make complex ideas accessible. 

Communication Lab

Comm Lab Voices: Clients Share Their Stories for the Comm Lab’s 10th Anniversary

Departmental Comm Labs

Get support from a discipline-specific Communication Lab: