NHERI Summer Institute
Early Career Research Professional Learning Community (PLC)
2026 NHERI Professional Learning Community session
Updates
Register for the upcoming Early Career Research Professional Learning Community (PLC): Successfully Navigating Early-Career Research Challenges. If you missed the spring PLC sessions which focused on NHERI facilities and resources, we encourage you to watch all three episodes on the NHERI ECO YouTube Channel.
Program Information
What is the NHERI Early Career Research Professional Learning Community?
The NHERI Early Career Research Professional Learning Community (PLC) program provides free, accessible, national-class professional development opportunities for new scholars forging their paths in STEM academia.
The impetus for the PLC program is NHERI’s highly successful Summer Institute, also tailored for early career researchers. As an annual, in-person event, however, the SI serves a limited number of participants. Responding to that event’s popularity, the NHERI ECO committee decided to expand — and complement — the Summer Institute’s curriculum. The Early Career Professional Learning Community is an online-only program, taking place multiple times per year, with unlimited participation. The PLC goals are to —
- Support the STEM workforce
- Create a collaborative research community
- Increase knowledge of NSF & NHERI resources
Eligibility
We encourage all early career researchers to participate in NHERI’s Early Career Research PLC sessions. Learn about network resources, natural hazards research, and strategies for developing competitive research proposals. The PLC is also an opportunity to network with a cohort of like-minded academics focused on natural hazards. Join us!
Registration
Registration for the September PLC is open. We encourage you to engage with our community through the NHERI Early Career Researcher Professional Learning Community (PLC) YouTube playlist under explore. The September session, “Successfully Navigating Early-Career Research Challenges,” will prepare attendees to:
- Recognize common challenges of early-career researchers on the tenure track, including time management across required workload.
- Identify ways to approach these common challenges, including networking with experienced researchers and joining grant proposals with awardees.
- Explicate the current state of “uncertainty” in academia from your current position.
Explore
Click the boxes below to check out presentations from previous NHERI Early Career Researcher Professional Learning Community sessions.
Contact Us
The Education and Community Outreach (ECO) and the ECO Committee develop and host the NHERI Summer Institute. If you have questions about the NHERI Summer Institute or the application/registration process, please email us at reu-request@designsafe-ci.org. We will be happy to help!