Student Group MP Handbook

I. Overview

The Nicholas School is expanding the range of integrative experiences that NS students can choose to culminate their masters programs, including more group Masters Projects. Group Masters Projects will involve 3-5 students from one or more program areas and will be supervised by one, or possibly two, NS faculty. This handbook describes one type of Group Masters Project – those that are completed in conjunction with a “real-world” client.

Client-centered group MPs closely mirror the work environment students will encounter after graduation, as most work is done in teams.The goal of group master’s projects is to provide students with experience in interdisciplinary problem solving related to environmental issues in preparation for professional careers.Master’s projects serve as a means for students to develop and hone teamwork, management and leadership skills.Our focus on client-centered MPs comes from our desire to prepare students for career advancement and to provide them with opportunities to build the skills for which employersare looking when hiring.

Students can find a complete overview of guidelines and schedules for Masters Projects (MPs) online at the Nicholas School website.

II. General Information

Timeline and Calendar

MP planning begins in the first year as students identify areas of interest through coursework and explore possible summer internships.Planning intensifies as the students choose internships and gain access to a list of group MP clients in January of their first year.Students submit their client preferences and are assigned a client and faculty advisor.Students complete a draft of their MP by early spring of their second year and are required to complete both a complete written draft that incorporates edits from client and advisor, and an oral presentation in the Masters Symposium. In addition, student groups prepare a website showcasing their project, a project brief, and a poster.

Academic Units

Students will register for their MP of choicethrough ACES, just like a class. There are several components to receiving credit for the MP; ENV 399, which is designated for work on the MP, and ENV 398.10, which denotes the MP presentation and other preparatory activities.

The Project: ENV 399.xx

Work for the master’s project is counted towards graduation by registering for ENV 399 for four to six units with your MP advisor (unless your program directs you to register under your coursework advisor's section number). The number of units and timing of registration for master’s project credits should be arranged between the student and the master’s project advisor.

The Seminar: ENV 398.10

The MP seminar is a course that includes various MP-related activities over the two-year period. You register for the course each semester, and receive one credit after your last semester. You get credit for this course based on your participation in various activities, including but not limited to the presentation practices.

Because the master’s project should integrate experiences extending over several semesters, the grade of Z is assigned for 399 registrations at the end of each semester, except for the semester in which the project is completed and the final report is submitted. At that time all registration credit under 399 will be converted to a Pass/Fail grade by the faculty advisor.

Registration for master’s projects work should not be under a section of ENVIRON 299 (Independent Study Projects). This course designation should be used for independent work that can be completed within the semester of registration and is not related to the master’s project.

Expected Time Commitment

Students should expect to devote at least ten hours a week to their group MP during their second year, although more hours can be expected.

Summer Work and Internships

Depending on the client, some students will participate in a summer internship associated with their group MP.Work during the summer does not substitute for time spent during the academic year, but can broaden or deepen the project. Students not involved in a group MP-related internship may elect to work on their projects during the summer without compensation.

Deliverables

The required deliverables for the group MP are:

a proposal
a written progress report
a final, written report
a presentation at the MP Symposium in April
a publicly available website

Team members will be asked to complete a peer and self-evaluation on the work of their team for each semester their second year. They will also submit a faculty and client evaluation to the Group MP coordinator.

Intellectual Property

Each member of the group is an equal owner of the intellectual property of the project and deliverables.Every paper, poster, presentation, etc. that results from group MP work must list each member of the group as an author, even if materials are adapted and used long after the project has ended.

Publishing

When appropriate, groups are encouraged to publish their MPs in appropriate outlets, and/or to publicize them through organizations that have sponsored their work, after their MP advisors have signed off on the final written MP.It is critical that groups discuss plans to publish their work with the faculty advisor and client; we want to make sure the publication of MPs occurs in a way that reflects well on you, your client, your advisor, and the school in general.

Data and Information Distribution

Datasets and information obtained or created during your work on a group MP may be confidential or copyrighted. However, final MPs are available on the Duke University library website, and thus are in the public domain. Thus, although students on Group MPs may have project stages or components that clients consider confidential, the final products are not. We have produced a separate document for clients that includes specific language around this expectation.

Use of Human Subjects

If you are interviewing people or administering surveys to them (by phone, mail, email, or in person), you may be doing research on human subjects as part of your group MP.Such research must conform to federal and university standards for protection of human subjects of non-medical research.In this case, both the group and the group’s faculty advisor must be "certified" for research on human subjects and you must obtain approval of your research protocol from Duke’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) before you begin any human subject recruitment or data collection from human subjects.You must understand and abide by all of the IRB policies and procedures prior to the collection of data.Additional information on human subjects research can be found on the Nicholas School website.

If you fail to follow the procedures required by federal and Duke policies on human subjects when collecting data for your MP, you will not be permitted to use those data in your MP.

III. Group Project Structure

Group Members

Each group consists of between three and five students.At the beginning of the spring semester, first year students submit their top three choices for a group MP.The Group MP Committee reviews these forms and assigns students to client projects taking into account student experience and prior knowledge and skills.Every effort is made to assign students to their highest ranked project, but this is not always possible. Clients may specify particular interests, skills, and experiences of value to their project, and student assignment will take these requests into account. By submitting a choice on the Group MP application form, students are committing to work on that team if assigned. Assignment to a team is a final and binding decision by the Committee, and students may not withdraw from the team after they are assigned.

Faculty Advisor

Each group project is assigned one or two faculty advisors who monitor progress, provide assistance, expertise, and advice, and evaluate and grade group projects.Faculty advisors play an important advisory role in the group MP.They do not serve as project managers; this responsibility belongs to student group members.

Group MP Committee

The Group MP Committee will have faculty, staff, and student representation from the Nicholas School of the Environment.The Group MP Coordinator (currently Charlotte Clark) solicits proposals from companies, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and individuals with real-world, current environmental problems.Student input in this developmental process is welcomed and will be solicited. Committee members review these proposals and select projects for students to consider in early spring.

Group MP Coordinator

The Group MP Coordinator is responsible for corresponding with individuals, groups, and organizations that are interested in becoming clients and for working with faculty, staff, students and the Group MP Committee to facilitate this process.

IV. Group Policies and Dynamics

Meetings

Groups are expected to meet at least once a week during the second year.Faculty are not required to attend weekly meetings but students should check in with faculty advisors either via e-mail or during in-person meetings frequently over the course of the semester.Students own the responsibility to schedule weekly meetings and make the necessary room or phone reservations.If a group member cannot attend a given meeting, he or she must notify the group in advance.Participation in meetings is required and is a portion of each student’s grade.

Conflict Resolution

Groups assume primary responsibility for resolving intra-group conflicts.Faculty advisors should be consulted to help resolve any issues that cannot be addressed by group members.If after faculty assistance group conflict remains unresolved, the group should contact the Group MP Coordinator, who may consult with the Group MP Committee.

If students are having difficulties with one member of their group, they must keep written documentation of the problem, including specific incidents and examples that support their allegation.Then, faculty and staff can intervene to resolve the conflict.

Group Commitment

A student cannot leave a group MP once he or she is assigned to a given group by the Group MP Committee.

V. Deliverables, Presentations and Evaluations

A timetable for Masters Projects is found on the Nicholas School website.

Summary of Activities in the First Year:

A menu of client-centered Group MP topics will be available online to students by the start of the spring semester.Students will be asked to complete an online preference form early in the 2nd semester indicating which projects are of interest to them. By listing a preference on the application form, a student is committing to work on that team if assigned.Students will be assigned to a group MP and faculty advisor by the Group MP Committee by mid-spring.

Once group MP assignments are made, groups and their faculty advisors should meet.Over the last month or six weeks of the spring semester, groups should work on drafting an MP proposal, which is due to the client and faculty advisor approximately one month after students have been assigned to group MPs.Guidelines for the MP Proposal are available on the Nicholas School website. Both advisor and client must approve this draft proposal

Note that Group Masters Project proposals vary from those for solo projects in at least three ways:

One proposal is submitted for the team (proposals are not submitted by each individual)
The proposal must be approved by the client as well as by the advisor
The proposal will likely talk about the roles played by the various students

Summary of Activities in the Second Year

In the second year, the proposal is revised (if appropriate), the project is implemented and completed, a final report is written, and a team presentation follows.

1)MP Proposal:Guidelines for the MP Proposal are available on the Nicholas School website. These paragraphs discuss aspects that are particular to group MPs and that might be different from similar aspects of solo MPs.

Immediately upon returning for the second year, the team should meet with client and advisor to determine if revisions to the draft proposal are warranted. Thehard copy of the final (revised if necessary) project proposal must be approved and signed by both faculty advisor and client, but the schedule is the same as that for solo MPs. As with solo Masters Projects, students will consult with their MP advisors to prepare brief presentations on their proposals for other faculty and students in the program within three weeks after the meeting with the advisor. However, Group MPs should consider whether the client might want to see/listen to the presentation. The client may be invited to participate in these presentations as desired; if the advisor is located remotely, the team is responsible for arranging for teleconferencing or Skyping; NSOE OIT is available to help with this. If this is desired, students may wish to set up their presentationsin LSRC A211 or Old Chem 104.

2)MP Report: Guidelines for the MP Report are available on the Nicholas School website. These paragraphs discuss aspects that are particular to group MPs and that might be different from similar aspects of solo MPs.

Although the deadlines for submission of group MP reports are the same as that for solo MPs, teams should remember that the client must also review the draft, and time should be allowed for the additional revision and editing that this may entail for the group. Advisors and clients typically need ten days to two weeks to edit each draft, and revisions may take longer than expected.

The final Master’s Project report must be consistent with the approved proposal. As the research develops, minor changes are likely and only require informal approval by the advisor and client.A major change in the project subject matter, however, requires submission of a new proposal, which must be approved by the advisor and client. Furthermore, at least one semester of study is normally required after submission of a new proposal before the student is eligible for graduation.

Note that every member of a group MP team is responsible for editing the portion of the document for which they are responsible. If this is more of a challenge for some team members than others, and/or if English is not the primary language of some team members, these members should take advantage of Duke Resources such as the Writing Studio, or may choose to pay for professional editing.

3)MP Presentation: Group MP team members have the responsibility to invite their client to attend the MP Symposium and hear their presentation. If clients reside more than 2 hours from Durham, the client(s) may prefer to be present by videoconference. This request must be communicated to Enrollment Services at least 30 days prior to Symposium.

4)Group MP Website: Each group is expected to produce a website to showcase their work to their colleagues, prospective students, and prospective employers. You can see websites produced by teams from prior years on the NSOE website.Wordpress is the most common software used to accomplish this, as it is easy to use and supported by Duke. Instruction on how to use Wordpress will be provided in a Friday seminar class in the fall of the second year. The site typically has the following components, although each team is encouraged to be creative in making its site reflect the work they have done and the client with whom they have worked:

a)Summary of research question and significance

b)Team, client, and advisor bios

c)Methods

d)Findings/recommendations

e)Resource links/references

f)Suggestions for future work

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