Education Commons^™

A Rough Guide To Interdisciplinarity: Graduate Student Perspectives, Jessica K. Graybill, Sarah Dooling, Vivek Shandas, John Withey, Adrienne I. Greve, Gregory L. Simon

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

A widely held belief is that only through interdisciplinarity can academics effectively address today's complex ecological problems, because these problems demand cross-disciplinary efforts and specialized knowledge from natural and social scientists. Innovative interdisciplinary research and curricula have been created to train a new generation of scientists to engage with complex issues. It seems critical that those most affected by interdisciplinary education—doctoral students—provide feedback about such innovations. Without understanding students' experiences in interdisciplinary programs, faculty will not know whether they are "getting it right" for future generations of interdisciplinarians. From our experiences as doctoral students, we provide reflections and perspectives on …