We propose the development and implementation of a short-term (eight week) summer training colloquium in population, aging, and health aimed at advanced undergraduate students recruited from diverse disciplines. We seek to provide for students making decisions about their graduate education and subsequent career paths an appreciation of the feasibility and value of seeking interdisciplinary training and of conducing interdisciplinary research in population, aging and health. Using a set of teaching modules on selected topics developed by teams of interdisciplinary scholars, instruction will occur using the staff and resources of both a public university (WWU) and a local not-for-profit hospital (St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, Washington) with substantial aging and health-related links throughout the community. As a pedagogical tool designed to illustrate the potential and value of interdisciplinary research, students will be sorted into solution teams comprised of students from different disciplines for the duration of the colloquium. These solution teams will be required to work cooperatively to provide answers to key questions raised in each of the eight teaching modules we propose. ? ? ?
