Interdisciplinary Thought Thinking big, thinking small, or not thinking at all

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Interdisciplinary Thought Thinking big, thinking
small, ornot thinking at all

• Monty Hempel
• Center for Environmental Studies
• University of Redlands

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Techies, Talkies, Tweenies, and Transies
or
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Disciplinary Boundaries
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Deans and Department Chairs
People have problems and universities have
departments, and thats the problem. --Russ
Mawby, President Kellogg Foundation
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Current Educational Structure
http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Micro-Specialization Increasing
Disciplinary Environmental Studies/Science
Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies
Higher Education
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Disciplinarity Comparative Advantage

• Specialized knowledge leads to most productive
  use of factors and generates the greatest wealth
  therefore the greatest social good.

Adam Smith 1723-1790
David Ricardo 1772-1823
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The fragmentation of knowledge and resulting
chaos are not reflections of the real world, but
are artifacts of scholarship

• -- E.O.Wilson

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The Interdisciplinary Mission Making sense out
of a fragmented world
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Human-influenced EcosystemsUnderstand
interactions between complex environmental
systems and even more complex human social systems
One response Focus on
Understanding interacting systems at multiple
scales of space and time.
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Elephant in the Wild
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Elephant in the University
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The Six Blind Men of Indostan(The Blind Men and
the Elephant)
American poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)
Reductionist Method breaking things into smaller
and smaller pieces until each piece can be
accurately analyzed.
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The Benefits of Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
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How Interdisciplinary Programs Are Viewed in Most
Universities?
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Cross-Disciplinary Evolution

• multidisciplinary - researchers in separate
  disciplines work independently within their own
  disciplinary perspective, to address a common
  problem
• interdisciplinary - researchers work jointly, but
  from each of their respective disciplinary
  perspectives, to address a common problem
• transdisciplinary - researchers work jointly
  using a shared conceptual framework that draws
  together discipline-specific theories, concepts,
  and approaches, to address a common problem

Firm boundaries
(Rosenfield, 1992)
Permeable boundaries
No or blurred boundaries
Source Dan Stokols, 2004
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Disciplinarity

• inter- prefix. Lat. lt inter
• between, among, withintrans- prefix Lat. lt
  trans
• across, beyond, through

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• Interdisciplinary
• Starts with disciplines and looks for lines of
  interest that connect them.
• Transdisciplinary
• Starts with complex problems and looks for new
  conceptualizations that transform understanding
  of theory and practice.

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Arguments for Transdisciplinarity

• The problems we face transcend the disciplinary
  knowledge we practice.
• Universities should be communities of scholars
  incubators and testing laboratories of ideas
  not confederations of turfdoms.
• Its not either/or! We need disciplinary,
  interdisciplinary, AND transdisciplinary programs
  in Higher Education.

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A Cautionary TaleThe Interdisciplinary Program
Builder

• The captain of the javelin
• team who won the toss and
• elected to receive.

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Barriers to Transdisciplinary Courtships

• Depth over Breadth Promotion Tenure
• Faculty Recruitment Need for a Core
• Curricular Incoherence Certification

Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Advantages of Transdisciplinary Collaboration

• Greater Explanatory Power
• Increased Capacity for Synthesis
• (not just analysis)
• Better Integration of Science, Management, and
  Policy
• Methodological Pluralism
• Promotes Coupling of Models
• Builds Foresight Capacity

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Disadvantages of Transdisciplinary Collaboration

• Labor Intensive Educationally Demanding
• Cooperation Hard to Sustain (turfdoms)
• Administratively Complex
• Breadth vs. Depth Tradeoffs
• Diffuse vs. Focused Conceptual Models
• Few Professional Incentives (tenure hurdles, less
  rewards for team contributions)

Weak or Negative Incentive Structures!
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NEEDEDA Science of Integration
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Science
Economics
Politics
Ethics
Env. Context History, Literature, Psychology,
Geog., Sociology, etc.
Management
Policy
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The Redlands ApproachCenter for Environmental
Studies

• Facilitating
  Interdisciplinary Work
• Tenure-Track Faculty lines in Natural Science,
  Social Science, and Humanities
• Conceptual Framework Sustainability
  (Ecol/Econ/Equity)
• Tools of Integration GIS spatial literacy
• Heuristics Ecological Footprint Analysis
• Team Research Design Studios Policy Clinics
• Experiential Learning Glocal Program
  (community service learning plus travel courses
  and study abroad)
• Setting Examples on Campus Green
  Buildings/Design

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Buildings that Teach
Lewis Hall
Center for Environmental Studies
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Disaster Preparedness
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Teaching is the art of assisting discovery

• Mark van Doren

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Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
in Higher Education

• Serving the Campus Sustainability Community
• Photo and design credit Mithun
  ArchitectsDesignersPlanners

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Mission

• Promote sustainability in all sectors of higher
  education - from governance and operations to
  curriculum and research through education,
  research, dialogue and action.
• Vision campuses modeling sustainability in all
  learning, operations, and outreach

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
in Higher Education
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About AASHE

• Higher education association, serving U.S. and
  Canada.
• Membership-based, member-driven
• Serves all sectors of higher education
• Professional home for sustainability coordinators
  
• Goal - umbrella organization for campus
  sustainability community

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
in Higher Education
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Resource Center

• Sustainability policy bank and assessment tools
• Specialized resources for academics, operations
  staff, sustainability professionals
• Publications (articles, reports, fact sheets,
  news, books)
• Directories
• Speakers Bureau

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
in Higher Education
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Professional Development and Networking

• Conference (Oct 4-7, 2006, ASU)
• Workshops trainings
• Interest groups, discussion lists, conference
  calls, web seminars, other networking
  opportunities
• Task forces energy, curriculum
• Professional home for sustainability
  coordinators, practitioners

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
in Higher Education
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Military Budgets FY 2006
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Equity -- 2006

• The wealth of the worlds 3 richest people is
  more than the combined income of the worlds 550
  million poorest.
• Over 800 million people do not get enough to eat
  every day.
• There have been 26 international conferences on
  poverty and hunger in the past 30 years.

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Describing the Unknown
Chimaera Pup
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Future Directions
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The Home Computer of 2004!
Popular Mechanics, 1954 (Hoax!)
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Means

• Guiding concepts Resilience and Sustainability
  (study both uses and limitations)
• Core faculty that includes natural sciences,
  social sciences, and humanities
• Core courses that combine science, policy and
  management
• Design Studios and Policy Clinics
• Buildings as adjunct faculty members
• Integrative Technologies (e.g., GIS)

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Core Courses (all degree tracks)
EVST 100 Introduction to Environmental
Studies EVST 102 Environmental Geography -
Ecological Literacy PHIL/REL Environmental
Ethics (REL 122 or PHIL 330) EVST 110
Introduction to Spatial Analysis GIS EVST 250
Environmental Design Studio I EVST 300
Environmental Colloquium (Econ/Policy/Mgmt/Sci.) E
VST 475 Capstone Senior Project (minimum of 6
units) EVST (1) Practicum (Choose one)
Environmental Study Abroad,
Biosphere 2 Semester, EVST
330, 350, 385, 485, or approved Travel Course
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Resilience

• Resilience for engineers the rate at which a
  system returns to a single steady or cyclic state
  following a perturbation.
• Resilience for ecologists the amount of change
  or disruption that is required to transform a
  system from being maintained by one set of
  mutually reinforcing processes and structures to
  a different set of processes and structures.

--The Resilience Alliance
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Ecological Resilience

• focused on persistence, adaptiveness, variability
  and unpredictability
• measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can
  be absorbed before the system changes its
  structure by changing the variables and processes
  that control behavior

--The Resilience Alliance
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Approaches to the Science of Sustainability
Traditional Science
Integrative Science

• Reductionist
• Monodisciplinary
• Single target/objectives
• Expert interventions
• Separates science from management
• Decisions based on burden of proof
• Hierarchy/rule-based, one path to Truth
• Predict and Explain

• Holistic
• Inter- and transdisciplinary
• Synthesis of multi-objectives
• Humility about intervening
• Treats management as an experiment
• Decisions based on precautionary principle
• Networking/collaborative, adaptive/flexible
• Envision and understand

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Discovering patterns within patterns
GIS
GIS is a macroscope for studying the Earth.
--Jack Dangermond
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Discovering patterns within patterns
Linking points lines and polygons
Area
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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What is a GIS?

• An integrative technology that uses
• a computer based mapping and information
• retrieval system for assembling, storing,
• manipulating, and displaying geographically
• referenced information, i.e. data identified
• according to their locations.
• A set of convergent tools for
• drilling into complex systems
• and revealing an organized set
• of thematic layers all linked by
• geography

ESRI, Inc.
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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The Confluence of Streams Carrying GIS

• Increasing rate and magnitude of change
  increasing scale and
• complexity of interactions
• Realization that most data has a spatial
  component
• (location-based, geo-referenced)
• Faster, more powerful, and cheaper computers
  (and resulting
• flood of digital data and Infoglut)
• The internet!
• Shift in emphasis from thinking about data to
  thinking about
• relationships from micro-analysis to
  synthesis
• Foresight and inventiveness of key researchers
  and
• entrepreneurs (e.g., Roger Tomlinson and Jack
  Dangermond)

Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Human Disturbance of Terrestrial Ecosystems
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Sustainability
Resilience
GIS
Our greatest responsibility is to be good
ancestors. - Jonas Salk
Monty Hempel, University of Redlands
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Integrated Watershed Analysis
Climate change (altered water cycle)
Human activities (resource land use)
Climate change
Climate change (sea level rise ocean mixing)
Human activities (aquaculture, development)
Freshwater habitat (water quality, quantity
timing)
Human activities (fishing)
Health Viability of PNW salmon
Estuarine habitat (water quality, mixing
processes)
Ocean habitat