Entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize science-based technologies face considerable challenges including uncertain environments, policy makers and investors' ignorance, and public opposition and ethical concerns. Most research exploring the emergence of technologies assumes the existence of accepted uses or products, despite the fact that efforts…

Large systems of statistical physics often display properties that are independent of particulars that characterize their microscopic components. Universal dynamical patterns are manifested by the presence of scaling laws, which provides a common insight into governing physics of processes as vastly diverse as, e.g., growth of geological…

At Bentley College, a four-year private institution located in Waltham, Massachusetts, over 90 percent of students major in business disciplines. For decades, Bentley's strong arts and sciences departments have battled for a place within an overwhelmingly career-focused curriculum, and great strides have been made to change the traditional…

This paper examines issues relating to the design/redesign of the pedagogy of interdisciplinary undergraduate subjects. Examples include: (a) law subjects for students in Business Management or Building and Surveying; (b) "English Communication for Business" for students in English; and (c) "Information technology in Business" for students in…

This article describes and discusses issues related to research design and data analysis in the mixing of qualitative and quantitative methods. It is increasingly desirable to use multiple methods in research, but questions arise as to how best to design and analyze the data generated by mixed methods projects. I offer a conceptualization for such…

In a mere 3 decades, infant mental health has grown from an intriguing but obscure clinical approach to young children into a broad-based, multidisciplinary effort to enhance the development and well-being of young children and families through research, practice, and policy. The authors review some of the original premises of infant mental health…

Why do certain domains of knowledge grow fast while others grow slowly or stagnate? Two distinct theoretical arguments hold that knowledge growth is enhanced by knowledge specialization and knowledge brokerage. Based on the notion of recombinant knowledge growth, we show that specialization and brokerage are opposing modes of knowledge generation,…

Previous research has highlighted the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in multiple disciplinary settings, including medicine, teacher education, business, allied health, and the social sciences. Yet interdisciplinary educators have very little information about how to implement PBL in classrooms where multiple disciplines are…

Surveys indicate that there is more interest today in politics among college students than has been the case in the recent past. This article describes a multidisciplinary freshman seminar aimed at using that interest to promote student engagement and the Reacting to the Past simulations at the course's center.

As the world has grown more interconnected, many political science programs have added courses on international law, international organizations, the laws of war and peace, international human rights, and comparative judicial politics. While in many cases these are relatively new offerings within international studies, all of these subjects have…

This article discusses the integration of history of modern applied mathematics in mathematics education as well as the possible teaching and learning benefits of introducing a newer history of mathematics over an old(er) one--something that seems to be done most often when integrating history. Three cases of the history of modern applied…

Using data collected through case studies of 21 research universities in the United States, I reviewed the efforts institutions are undertaking to meet the growing demand for interdisciplinary knowledge. I adopted the framework of transformative change, where change occurs over time and brings important shifts in the way an institution views…

This article features Christopher Kent, a futurist who uses his skills to study the future. Kent examines the present for clues to changes that the future may bring. His training in history serves him well. Futurists specialize in recognizing upcoming uncertainty and attempting to manage it. They realize that unknown--and unknowable--changes will…

In scientific teaching, especially in physics and chemistry, some historical aspects have been introduced at the secondary level in France, since 1993. Particularly, in 2007, the syllabuses of 11'-15' years old level ("college") propose precise activities in history of science and technology. Detailed guidance has been distributed in…

To form and orchestrate intelligent groups is a real challenge for 21st-century education and research. In this paper the authors show how a regional state university was able to facilitate interdisciplinary research and education through forming an interdisciplinary institute. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)