With the global challenges that face us and our environment, there is a growing sense among leaders in science, public policy, business, and education that we need new, more integrative approaches to science. In turn, these interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to solving problems at the frontiers of science demand responses and reformations at the institutional level. Integrated Sciences:New Approaches to Education, a "virtual roundtable" on the topic of integrative science,creates a symphony of voices addressing the pluralistic nature of approaches to recasting science research and education. The "participants" come from different perspectives and experiences, and include Nobel laureates, university presidents, serious scholars, and distinguished scientists. Although their comments, talks, articles, and interviews on this subject may have taken place at different times and in widely different venues, they have been organized into a coherent ensemble of conversations about the necessity, promises, challenges, and implementation of integrative approaches to scientific research and education. This book will be helpful to a wide range of scientists, educators, and university and college administrators facing the exciting, if daunting, hurdles involved in integrative reform.
Across science and engineering, new opportunities are unfolding at the convergence of traditional fields. To meet the demands for students with interdisciplinary education, new undergraduate curricula have emerged. Biomedical engineering, for example, builds upon foundations in biology, physics, chemistry and materials science coupled with engineering design principles.
In building successful interdisciplinary science programs, however, many questions must be addressed. Although many resources exist for developing and implementing new academic programs, there does not exist in a single volume that adequately address this important topic. Integrated Science: New Approaches to Education is a focused collection of essays addressing the myriad challenges associated with conceptualizing, developing, implementing and measuring the success of new undergraduate programs in interdisciplinary science and engineering fields. This book will provide an overview of this process drawn from a broad perspective of experts within their respective fields.
Michael E. Brint
Campus Emeritus Integration Master Professor biochemistry biology chemistry education environment health science sociology university