The purpose of this engineering education CAREER proposal is to develop and test a theory of the development of interdisciplinary work ability in the context of graduate education in engineering. The motivation for this research is the increasing globalization and international competition, which drive renewed efforts to prepare adaptable engineers who can work in interdisciplinary environments.
The following research questions will be addressed: 1. How do engineering graduate students develop deep awareness of multiple (disciplinary) epistemologies? and 2. What do successful engineering faculty and programs do to encourage this type of intellectual development in graduate students? A mixed methods approach will be used, in which the first question will be addressed through rigorous interview and observation methods, while the second employs surveys to test the validity and generalizability of the initial theory. Embedded in both phases is development of assessment tools interdisciplinary learning, both a growth rubric and a survey-style instrument.
The overall setting for studying interdisciplinary graduate education will be sites funded through NSF's IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education Research and Training) initiative. Four IGERTs representing 6 engineering/computing disciplines and 20 other disciplines will provide the setting to study a wide range of interactions: engineer-engineer, engineer-scientist, engineer-social scientist, engineer-artist, engineer-businessperson, and others. The proposed work comprises development of the theory via qualitative techniques, testing of the theory via survey research, and sharing of the results through workshops at the partner institutions.
Interdisciplinary approaches are required to address the most important problems facing society today in areas such as public health, environmental sustainability, and financial stability. But the universities in which we train students and conduct research are organized along disciplinary lines, and university policies can make it difficult to work with collaborators in other disciplines. This work focused on what can be done to change universities and better support interdisciplinary training of future scientists and engineers. This project employed a wide range of research approaches including interviews and intensive analysis of hundreds of documents to understand the challenges that graduate students face in trying to research interdisciplinary topics for their dissertations. First, the project clarified more specific interdisciplinary learning outcomes, for example, teamwork, communication and the broad perspective required to identify interdisciplinary problems and assemble interdisciplinary teams. Then, the project described how successful interdisciplinary graduate programs develop their own communities of support within universities organized by disciplines. The project also investigated how professors and administrators worked to change their universities to make them better at supporting interdisciplinary work. The project also translated psychology research results into specific recommendations for teaching teamwork at the college level. Practical suggestions were an important part of this project. Each of the 9 journal articles and 8 conference papers resulting from this work included practical suggestions for professors or university administrators to support interdisciplinary graduate education. This project also funded several national workshops for professors and deans responsible for graduate education at their universities to apply our results to making changes at their universities. At the home institution (Virginia Tech), this project contributed to creation of a new position of Graduate Associate Dean and Director of Interdisciplinary Graduate Education at the university level. Four PhDs were also funded by this project while they developed research skills; they are now working at universities around the country to improve interdisciplinary education. This work has resulted in a number of awards and recognitions, including a professional society best paper award, a conference best session award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
