Engineers today cannot meet their professional obligation to the welfare of society if they do not have a broad, multidisciplinary vision, and yet a multidisciplinary vision is becoming enormously difficult to obtain. A new curriculum must emerge that can integrate a focused, discipline-based scientific approach with an integrated approach. To do…

A framework of operating models for interdisciplinary research programs in clinical service organizations is presented, consisting of a "clinician-researcher" skill development model, a program evaluation model, a researcher-led knowledge generation model, and a knowledge conduit model. Together, these models comprise a tailored, collaborative…

Although there is considerable activity in developing assessment protocols for undergraduate learning, there are few established models for assessment of student progress in multidisciplinary doctoral-level graduate education. To resolve this impediment in tracking graduate student development, we created a simple assessment tool based on the…

Background: Significant advances in understanding brain development and behavior have not been accompanied by revisions of traditional academic structure. Disciplinary isolation and a lack of meaningful interdisciplinary opportunities are persistent barriers in academic medicine. To enhance clinical practice, research, and training for the next…

The authors present an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to address the problem of increasing student mental health issues on college campuses. The model uses addiction and depression as lenses into the problem and links residence life and academic and community internship experiences. The project has a positive impact on student attitudes…

Despite substantial usage of case study analyses as learning tools in diverse fields of study, business graduate students often arrive with little to no prior knowledge in how to effectively use this tool. Using the Sams efficacy model (2009) strategic to business education this study identified a dearth in the usage of case study analyses in…

The sociology of aging draws on a broad array of theoretical perspectives and social theories from several disciplines, but rarely has it developed its own theories or theoretical perspectives. We build on past work to further advance and empirically test a model of mental health framed in terms of structural theorizing and situated within the…

The authors report the results of a cross-class project involving sophomore-level students in an Operations Analysis (OA) class with junior-level students in an Operations Management (OM) class. The students formed virtual teams and developed a simulation model of a call center. The OM students provided the management expertise, while the OA…

The demand for a new workforce to meet the challenges of a global knowledge economy is rapidly increasing. As a special report in Business Week magazine observed last year: "The game is changing. It isn't just about math and science anymore. It's about creativity, imagination, and, above all, innovation." Most analysts studying the new global…

One of the important themes that emerged from the CAL'07 conference was the failure of technology to bring about the expected disruptive effect to learning and teaching. We identify one of the causes as an inherent weakness in prevalent development methodologies. While the problem of designing technology for learning is irreducibly…

This paper describes the second and third phases of a comprehensive mechatronics curriculum development effort. They encompass the development of two advanced mechatronics courses ("Simulation and Modeling of Mechatronic Systems" and "Sensors and Actuators for Mechatronic Systems"), the formulation of a Mechatronics concentration, and offshoot…

Medical technology continues to improve, increasing life expectancies and capabilities of children with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Pediatric health issues have an impact on children's academic, emotional, behavioral, and social functioning. This article reviews a consultative Biopsychoeducational Model, based on a problem-solving process,…

Facial affect processing is essential to social development and functioning and is particularly relevant to models of depression. Although cognitive and interpersonal theories have long described different pathways to depression, cognitive-interpersonal and evolutionary social risk models of depression focus on the interrelation of interpersonal…

Ecological economics is a transdisciplinary field that seeks to integrate the study of humans and the rest of nature as the basis for the creation of a sustainable and desirable future. It seeks to dissolve the barriers between the traditional disciplines and achieve a true "consilience" of all the sciences and humanities. This consilient,…

This paper describes the development of different lesson plans dealing with authentic and controversial socio-scientific issues in the framework of climate change. These lesson plans orient themselves along the socio-critical, problem-oriented approach to science teaching. They deal with the use of bioethanol as an alternative fuel and with the…