by AnotherGuest » Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:32 am
PlutoBoy wrote:
How did that work? I currently dislike my SF. They have agreed to let me leave and another SF has agreed to take me. I don't know how do I initiate the change.
TL;DR version - you need to be proactive and do the legwork. You already have most of it done with one SF agreeing to let you go and another agreeing to take you on. You need to contact the SMART program office or your original SF's liaison (would recommend the liaison first), and explain the situation. You are more likely to get the liaison on your side before SMART, and they can help convince SMART that your change of SF request is legitimate.
----
I'm in Phase 3 now -- the contractor running SMART at the time was ASEE instead of LMI, but I still had to do all of the legwork. That group at AEDC wasn't completely honest about the work that I would be doing when I went through the interview process... So even though they weren't on my list I still accepted it based on the work that was described to me still fitting into where I wanted to go with my research/future work after grad school. During my first summer internship there I quickly found out I would be placed in a position that capped out after 2 years, doing work that wouldn't even make use of or require a graduate degree (they also couldn't sponsor me when I decided to pursue a PhD because they were only authorized to support up to Masters level employees, which seemed very bizarre). There were other issues, but the biggest one was I only accepted the offer (I had other funding offers) because of the work that was described to me and they weren't truthful about it.
I started contacting the AF liaison to see what could be done -- he tried to convince me to apply for SMART again, however for a PhD and that would put be back in the pool for nearly random selection. I wasn't really up for doing that process again, so I hunted around for positions at other SF's that were much more in line with what I was supposed to be doing and closer to what my degree was focused in. Eventually came across a DoD lab job opening that was circulated through my grad lab that sounded like a perfect fit -- interviewed with them in-person and explained my SMART situation. SF's on both sides of the transfer had to be good with the transfer itself and the SMART program office/liaison handled things from there. The transfer took a long time... I started working the transfer ~9-10 months before I graduated... I didn't start working until 6 months after I graduated. Also of note... Once you get a transfer to go through, SMART puts a document in your file (and e-mails it to you), that 100% comes across that they aren't happy with what you did, and that you aren't in line with the original agreement you signed, etc... The note is meant to blemish your file for anything in the future that might come up was what I got from it. I haven't noticed any issues - applied for SMART again, however as a retention with my new SF and it sounds like they are expecting me to get an award notification this week - also received NDSEG (was run by ASEE when I did SMART, so I half expected my SMART file to be shared w/ NDSEG office).
[quote="PlutoBoy"]
How did that work? I currently dislike my SF. They have agreed to let me leave and another SF has agreed to take me. I don't know how do I initiate the change.[/quote]
TL;DR version - you need to be proactive and do the legwork. You already have most of it done with one SF agreeing to let you go and another agreeing to take you on. You need to contact the SMART program office or your original SF's liaison (would recommend the liaison first), and explain the situation. You are more likely to get the liaison on your side before SMART, and they can help convince SMART that your change of SF request is legitimate.
----
I'm in Phase 3 now -- the contractor running SMART at the time was ASEE instead of LMI, but I still had to do all of the legwork. That group at AEDC wasn't completely honest about the work that I would be doing when I went through the interview process... So even though they weren't on my list I still accepted it based on the work that was described to me still fitting into where I wanted to go with my research/future work after grad school. During my first summer internship there I quickly found out I would be placed in a position that capped out after 2 years, doing work that wouldn't even make use of or require a graduate degree (they also couldn't sponsor me when I decided to pursue a PhD because they were only authorized to support up to Masters level employees, which seemed very bizarre). There were other issues, but the biggest one was I only accepted the offer (I had other funding offers) because of the work that was described to me and they weren't truthful about it.
I started contacting the AF liaison to see what could be done -- he tried to convince me to apply for SMART again, however for a PhD and that would put be back in the pool for nearly random selection. I wasn't really up for doing that process again, so I hunted around for positions at other SF's that were much more in line with what I was supposed to be doing and closer to what my degree was focused in. Eventually came across a DoD lab job opening that was circulated through my grad lab that sounded like a perfect fit -- interviewed with them in-person and explained my SMART situation. SF's on both sides of the transfer had to be good with the transfer itself and the SMART program office/liaison handled things from there. The transfer took a long time... I started working the transfer ~9-10 months before I graduated... I didn't start working until 6 months after I graduated. Also of note... Once you get a transfer to go through, SMART puts a document in your file (and e-mails it to you), that 100% comes across that they aren't happy with what you did, and that you aren't in line with the original agreement you signed, etc... The note is meant to blemish your file for anything in the future that might come up was what I got from it. I haven't noticed any issues - applied for SMART again, however as a retention with my new SF and it sounds like they are expecting me to get an award notification this week - also received NDSEG (was run by ASEE when I did SMART, so I half expected my SMART file to be shared w/ NDSEG office).