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Alhad Daftardar
GA Tech Alumnus and former VIP Student
Through VIP, multidisciplinary student teams are embedded in faculty research. Teams are established by faculty. Students earn academic credit and can participate multiple semesters, with returning students taking on additional leadership/project responsibilities. “Vertically Integrated” refers to VIP team composition, which includes sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, post-docs and faculty.
VIP is offered as a course for a letter grade, and it is not available for audit. It is offered every Fall and Spring, and students must apply and be accepted before they can register for the class. Students can apply the semester before they join their teams (for example, applying in September to join a team in January), or as late as the first week of class (applications close that Thursday). Teams do fill up, so students are encouraged to apply early if they are interested in a specific team.
Students are encouraged to participate multiple semesters, taking on greater technical and leadership responsibilities in their second and subsequent semesters. Team continuity supports team productivity, and multiple semesters of participation enables students to develop expertise within their teams. To support team continuity, students who want to switch teams are asked to take a one-semester break (not counting summer) from VIP. Students seeking an exception to this policy should explain their request in the comment section in the online application.
How Credits Count
The VIP program is multidisciplinary by nature, attracting students from schools and departments across campus. Different majors have different policies for how credits count, ranging from free electives, to in major electives, and even Junior or Senior Design. Follow the link below to learn more about how VIP will count towards your degree.
Workload
- 1 credit: 3 hours outside of full team meeting
- 2 credits: 7 hours outside of full team meeting
- 3 credits: 11 hours outside of full team meeting (available in 3rd semester, see note*)
Scheduled Commitments
- Weekly full team meeting (50-minutes)
- Subteam meetings outside of class, scheduled with teammates and instructor after semester starts
* Undergraduates can only use the 3-credit option once. It is only available to students who meet 4 criteria: 1) are in their third or later semester with the same team, and 2) in their last semester with the team, and 3) the student was enrolled with the team immediately prior to the 3-credit semester (excluding summer), and 4) the student has instructor approval.
What VIP Students Do:
- Attend weekly meetings (scheduled class), report on progress. and identify tasks for the coming week.
- Attend subteam meetings outside of scheduled class times.
- Collaborate with teammates, keeping abreast of the larger project (not just their own work).
- Document own work, for both grading and intellectual property purposes.
- Contribute to team-level documentation, so the project can continue the next semester.
Graduate Students
Nadia Trent
Former VIP Graduate Student, MBA Academic Director and Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management at The University of Waikato
Graduate students can participate in VIP one of two ways:
- Registering for 1 to 3 credits, or
- Students working for their VIP instructors as RAs can participate as mentors, registering for 0-credits.
Some departments have established policies on how VIP credits can count toward degree requirements, while others count VIP as out-of-major courses without additional policies.
Online MS Students
Some VIP team projects are well suited to Online Masters of Science students. The team listings page includes a filtering category for online students, which lists teams that accept/will consider OMS students. There are two designations: synchronous and asynchronous. Students who participate asynchronously will not attend the full team meeting, but they will still need to meet synchronously with their subteam at another time during the week. These subteam meetings are scheduled by students on the team.
OMS students are encouraged to email the advisor of the team prior to submitting their applications. Also, in the motivation box on the application page, please indicate your time zone and your employer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can participate?
Students are eligible to participate in VIP when they have sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student standing. Students can apply while they are freshmen (i.e. spring of freshman year) to participate when they are sophomores (i.e. fall of sophomore year). Students with substantial AP credit should think about whether they are taking sophomore-level courses within their major. If they are taking freshman-level courses, but have a lot of AP credit in other disciplines, they should wait until they are at a sophomore level within their own discipline.
Is experience required?
Previous experience is not required, but willingness to learn and to work with others are musts.
How do VIP credits count?
VIP credits typically count as free electives or technical electives, and VIP can also be used in Senior Design and Junior Design in some majors. Students should plan ahead and understand how credits count in their major. More details can be found using the links on this page.
What is the time commitment?
Students should expect to spend 2-3 hours per credit hour on work for the VIP team. In other words, students taking the course for 1 credit should spend around 2-3 hours per week, students taking the course for 2 credits should spend 4-6 hours per week, and students taking the course for 3 credits (limited to graduate students) should spend around 6-8 hours per week.
How many semesters can I stay on a VIP team?
As long as you remain in good standing with the team, you can stay on a VIP team for as many semesters as your schedule allows. There is even the possibility of staying on the same team while pursuing a graduate degree or postdoc at Georgia Tech. The longer you stay, the more leadership responsibilities you should expect to take on.
Can I be on a VIP team led by a professor from another department?
All teams are multidisciplinary. A team led by a professor from Electrical Engineering may also include Aerospace Engineering and Business students. Further, teams are not restricted to “majors of interest” listed on the team information pages, so students can apply to any team they are interested in. Be sure to understand any restrictions set by your department regarding either which teams will count toward your degree, or appropriateness of the project for Senior or Junior Design. You can find links to specific major policies on this page.
How do you apply?
After you find a team that interests you, please visit our application page. Students can only apply to one team at a time. If you change your mind, you can re-apply to another team, and the new application will replace the previous one. Please note: to access our application page, you must be on campus or logged into the campus Virtual Private Network (VPN).
What do the approvers consider when reviewing applications?
Approvers consider the balance of majors on the team. They also take into account the balance of undergraduate and graduate level students and returning and new students. The short interest statement in your application is also taken into account, since interest has historically been the best indicator for success on a team.
How does VIP differ from other undergraduate research programs on campus?
All undergraduate research opportunities are great experiences! VIP differs from other programs due to the large, multidisciplinary teams students choose to participate in.
Is VIP hiring?
VIP routinely seeks out undergraduate student assistants to help with administrative and web form tasks. While we aren’t hiring now, please feel free to submit your resume to vip@gatech.edu.
Who should I contact with further questions?
For further VIP questions, please email vip@gatech.edu. If you have a question on applying, enrolling or permits, please include your GTID and GT Username.