Reshaped Graduate Education: Workforce Outcomes of Interdisciplinary Training

• In Event: Careers, Identities, and Disciplinarity in Doctoral Education

Abstract

The National Academy of Science’s Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP, 2005) called for doctoral programs to engage students in interdisciplinary work and to provide professional training to better prepare students for a wide range of scientific careers and research opportunities. As interdisciplinary programs have developed and expanded in response to this and other calls for change, it is important to understand whether they are providing graduate students with the necessary training for scientific careers and research. This study investigated the short-term professional outcomes of graduates of interdisciplinary programs in order to assess how well these interdisciplinary doctoral programs prepared students for successful STEM-related careers, relative to their peers who were trained in more traditional disciplinary programs.

Authors

• Alina Martinez, Abt Associates Inc.

• Amanda Parsad, Abt Associates

• Kristen Neishi, University of Michigan

• Jennifer Giancola Carney, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

• Carol Frank Stoel, National Science Foundation