The Council of Graduate Schools in Washington DC is examining the professional-development requirements of PhD and master's students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes. The council will survey 500 member institutions and interview industry leaders to determine which skills are most important for STEM graduates and which remain unaddressed in US graduate programmes. Daniel Denecke, the council's associate vice-president for programmes, says that the study, which is funded by a US$298,100 grant from the National Science Foundation, is focusing on industrial employers because they are the most likely to hire STEM graduates. Results will be available by summer 2016.