The FUSE application window is currently closed and will reopen in June 2026.
The Graduate Academic Certificate in Future Undergraduate Science Educators (FUSE) is a transcript-noted program that offers pedagogical training to Ph.D. students in the College of Biological Sciences preparing for undergraduate teaching careers.
Students are trained in evidence-based teaching practices and engage in mentored, authentic teaching experiences. The curriculum is based on Scientific Teaching, a pedagogical framework in which teaching is approached with the same rigor as scientific research. This framework includes using active learning strategies and other teaching methods that have been systematically tested and shown to both engage students in the process of science and promote diversity and inclusion.
This program is designed to present a thorough introduction to evidence-based pedagogy and to provide a student with their first experience as an instructor. Students who already have extensive training in pedagogy or have had experience as an instructor of record are not likely to benefit from this program and are not a target audience for this program.
In order for a student to be eligible to apply for FUSE, they must:
The FUSE graduate academic certificate requires completion of 12 graduate-level units that must be completed within four years of admittance to the FUSE program. FSE 310 (3 units), FSE 392 (1-6 units), FSE 301 (2 units) and FSE 305 (2 units) are required courses that must be completed to fulfill the certificate requirements. FSE 391 is an elective course that students can take if completion of the required courses does not fulfill 12-units, for example if the FSE 392 teaching practicum is taken for 4 units or fewer.
