The recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students into STEM fields, is a critical goal for educators, particularly in an increasingly tech-oriented world and a diverse society. Research suggests that integrating art into mathematics courses can increase student engagement and broaden participation. Additionally,…

Purpose: Extant literature tends to consider knowledge boundaries as a necessary property of interdisciplinary work. Knowledge boundaries are, thus, reified and treated as something to be traversed, transcended or otherwise negotiated. There is, however, very little work that closely examines the process of emergence of boundaries. The purpose of…

The design of biological systems is a multidisciplinary activity in which biomedical engineers collaborate to build novel biological systems that address society's needs. One of the most relevant skills for designing biological systems is engineering systems thinking (EST). Among the EST elements, the EST cognitive competencies are comparatively…

Transdisciplinary invention projects based on traditional and digital fabrication technologies engage young people in designing and making complex artifacts and constitute a central aspect of future-oriented education. In Finland, comprehensive school students (aged 7-15) from all over the country can practice their inventive skills in the annual…

As an indicator of nations' prosperity and economic competitiveness, research impacts the mounting roles and requirements placed upon academic researchers. Internationally, researchers are expected to effectively operate in the fast-changing and demanding research environment. Such effectiveness corresponds mainly to their ability to establish…

The interaction of proximate research universities is a multifaceted and increasingly relevant phenomenon in today's higher education landscape. The three essays herein add to science policy and innovation literature by exploring the challenges, opportunities, and expectations that arise when multiple universities operate in a region. The first…

Studio, a breeding ground for curiosity and wonder, has become more of a confined space for innovation lately. Infrastructure shortage also has triggered a somewhat impersonal attitude to studio learning. Can Design-Activism mitigate such stresses on the studio by becoming an alternative mode of driving studio processes? Reflectively, this study…

China International "Internet +" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is one of the important starting points for the country to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents. After investigation and research, it was found that the proportion of liberal arts projects advancing to the national finals was much…

In this paper, we present an overview of a series of 1-credit applied problem solving courses. The goal of these courses was to help students develop their oral and written communication skills, ability to work as a team, and general problem solving skills through preparation and participation in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and…

This article contributes to the literature on interdisciplinary teaching by describing, analyzing, and evaluating an interdisciplinary intervention while students are still gaining disciplinary grounding. The intervention bridges courses in microeconomics and ethics. It focuses on the travelling concepts of voluntariness and value in a potential…

Challenge: The biomedical engineering (BME) capstone design courses are traditionally offered in students' senior year. Students often feel underprepared for the hands-on biodesign and prototyping process. Also, capstone design projects are often provided by BME faculty, without students' input in needs finding and screening. Novel Initiative: A…

Arctic security is a complex and interconnected domain shaped by environmental change, geopolitical competition, economic interests, and sociocultural dynamics. Traditional security education often relies on reductionist methods that fail to capture these interdependencies, leading to fragmented decision-making. This paper introduces the Security…

This paper presents a novel design for an upper-level undergraduate statistics course structured around data rather than methods. The course is designed around curated datasets to reflect real-world data science practice and engages students in experiential and peer learning using the data science competition platform Kaggle. Peer learning is…

Comparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. Marked by connectivity, our contemporary era vastly increases the (potential) diffusion of ideas essential for scientific advance. Three interlocking…

Benefits of interdisciplinary student participation in a university's entrepreneurial activities are well known. Still, institutional barriers (structural, temporal, spatial, economic, attitudinal) conspire to block participation. Aided by the NSF's "Pathways to Innovation Program," the authors conducted a field experiment to increase…