Crossing disciplinary borders: A new approach to preparing students for interdisciplinary research

This paper presents a research-based developmental model to aid faculty in developing interdisciplinary graduate curricula. The model progresses from the recognition of disciplinary boundaries to the integration of multiple disciplinary approaches, and finally to a meta-cognitive stage in which graduate students were able to self-consciously reflect on the knowledge construction process within and outside of engineering. The model was developed using assessment data from student and faculty interviews, surveys and productivity reporting. Analysis was grounded in the qualitative methodologies of the social sciences. The setting is the EIGER program at Virginia Tech, which aims to reshape the graduate experience for engineers by complementing traditional discipline-based study with a program explicitly designed to foster in students the interdisciplinary and team-based knowledge and skills that are fundamental to successful collaboration. The findings of this study may have significant implications for efforts to reshaping and enhance graduate engineering curricula.