Assessing Student Interdisciplinarity: Results from an Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Science and Engineering Fields
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Multidisciplinary Engineering
- Page Count
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13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--29823
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/29823
- Download Count
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462
Paper Authors
Chi-Ning Chang
Texas A&M University
orcid.org/0000-0003-4659-4898
Chi-Ning Chang is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University. His major is Research, Measurement, and Statistics. He works for an interdisciplinary graduate education program in Materials Engineering fields, which is funded by the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program. His current research interests are STEM Education and Quantitative Methodology.
Courtney Lavadia Texas A&M University
Courtney Lavadia obtained her master's degree from the College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University in 2016. She is currently a Ph.D. student studying school psychology. Her research is centered around how practitioners can utilize individual child strengths for assessment and intervention in hospital settings. Other projects include studying resilience in children, and adult learning theory.
Douglas Allaire Texas A&M University
Dr. Douglas Allaire is currently an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. He has held that position since January 2014. His current research focuses on the development of computational methods for the analysis, design, and operation of complex systems. He is specifically interested in aspects of uncertainty quantification, multidisciplinary design optimization, and compositional methods for simulation-based design. He is currently working on projects involving the development of computational methods for enabling self-aware unmanned aerial vehicles, the development of optimal algorithms for multi-information source management in materials design, and the development of methods for enabling correct-by-construction model-based design processes.
Debra A Fowler Texas A&M University
Dr. Debra Fowler serves as the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Texas A&M University. Following 16 years working in industry she completed a Ph.D. is in Interdisciplinary Engineering with a specific focus on engineering education from Texas A&M University. Her research areas of focus are faculty perspectives and growth through curriculum design and redesign, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, reflective eportfolios and professional development of graduate students related to teaching.
Raymundo Arróyave Texas A&M University
Dr. Arroyave is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He received his Ph. D. degree in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His teaching interests include undergraduate courses on materials science and numerical methods and graduate courses on thermodynamics and kinetics of materials. He has more than 120 publications on the general field of computational thermodynamics and kinetics of materials, 20 conference proceedings (including papers on engineering education) and more than 100 conference presentations and 30 invited talks.
Abstract
To address national needs within materials discovery and development, a new interdisciplinary graduate program was designed at the intersection of materials science, informatics, and design. As the first cohort students completed the two-year training and submitted their final interdisciplinary research, the current study employed several different approaches to assess the level of student’s interdisciplinarity. One approach, which differentiates from the mainstream approach of creating and utilizing rubrics, was presented in this study. Specifically, level of interdisciplinarity was evaluated by analyzing citations used in a final design process as well as conducting a social network analysis. The results revealed that the research projects conducted by interdisciplinary teams displayed higher levels of interdisciplinarity in comparison to a single disciplinary team (i.e., all members from one discipline). The findings suggest that this interdisciplinary program may provide advantageous opportunities for doctoral students to cross disciplinary boundaries in materials discovery and development.
Chang, C., & Lavadia, C., & Allaire, D., & Fowler, D. A., & Arróyave, R. (2018, June), Assessing Student Interdisciplinarity: Results from an Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Science and Engineering Fields Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--29823
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