Interdisciplinary Sciences at Haverford College

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Interdisciplinary Sciences at Haverford College

• Philip Meneely
• Dept. of Biology
• August 2004

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Challenges to Integrating Sciences

• Time
• Small number of faculty members
• Faculty training

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But Colleges have some advantages for integrated
sciences

• Students come to us as integrated scientists
• Faculty size allows flexibility and personal
  contacts
• Less pressure to produce the big paper

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What Do We Mean by Integrated Sciences?

• Type 1. Interdisciplinary curriculum
• Students take courses in two different
  departments. Integration is done by the
  students.
• Examples from Haverford Areas of Concentration
  in Biochemistry, in Biophysics, and in
  Neuroscience.
• Planned bioinformatics (biology, math, computer
  science) materials science (physics and
  chemistry).

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What Do We Mean by Integrated Sciences?

• Type 2. Interdisciplinary research
• Formal or informal co-supervision of student
  research projects. Shared research facilities.
• Examples from Haverford Koshland Integrated
  Natural Science Center (KINSC), nanoscience
  program, and many projects in many fields.

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What Do We Mean by Integrated Sciences?

• Type 3. Informed faculty members
• Guest lectures, auditing courses, shared teaching
  assistants and tutors.
• Examples from Haverford HHMI Faculty
  Development Program. Bio200 and Organic
  Chemistry. Computing Across the Sciences course.
  Summer journal club.

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Summer Research ProgramMore than 40 students
were involved in 2004
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What Do We Mean by Integrated Sciences?

• Type 4. Interdisciplinary courses
• Course jointly taught by faculty members from two
  departments.
• Examples from Haverford. None, but several
  planned for 2005
• Challenge teaching credits and course loads

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Koshland Integrated Natural Science Center

• Building was an outcome of a culture that
  combines research and teaching
• Active research program involving students is
  expected for tenure and promotion
• Recent faculty hires have been at the
  interdisciplinary edges (across the College)

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Koshland Integrated Natural Science Center

• Building complex includes biology, chemistry,
  computer science, math, physics, psychology.
• Shared equipment, support spaces, library, social
  spaces, computer cluster, secretaries
• Offices, classrooms, research and teaching labs
  are in close proximity. Fuzzy boundaries
• Has worked much better than anyone could have
  realistically expected

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HHMI Faculty Development Program

• Format Bring together faculty around a topic of
  interdisciplinary interest. Allow them to learn
  from each other and bring in outside speakers.
  Meet for about three hours weekly for one
  semester, with the second semester devoted to
  project development.

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HHMI Faculty Development Program

• Topics
• computing across the sciences
• bioinformatics
• science and society
• statistics in the curriculum
• imaging (planned for 2005-06)

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Faculty Development
Statistics
Bioinformatics
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HHMI Faculty Development Program

• Motivation for faculty professional development,
  interest, pride, peer pressure, stipend (or
  course release)
• Challenges time, topics, workload, egos
• Outcomes 46 participants from six science
  departments and six other departments. New
  courses, new course sequence in math, new areas
  of concentration (pending)
• Unexpected Advantages immediate applicability,
  improved faculty interactions and morale as we
  see each other as scholars

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Challenges to Interdisciplinary Science Education

• How do we integrate without losing the core of
  our disciplines?
• How do we decide what topics to exclude?
• How do we avoid integrating by dilution?
• A dirty secret The MCAT and GRE exams do not
  require students to integrate sciences.