Read biographies of alumni to understand how their career trajectories were influenced by their curricular or co-curricular choices.
Planning Your Course of Study
- Declaring a major or minor in Interdisciplinary Science
If you are interested in becoming an Interdisciplinary Science major or minor, visit IS Degree Requirements to:
- Review the Program Requirements Worksheet (Check Sheet) and Suggested Four-Year Schedule of courses to meet the requirements
- Complete the Major/Minor Declaration Statement
Selecting Courses
Courses offered in this program incorporate science and math in the context of health, environment, and equity and use a planetary health framework. To see a list of courses offered in the major and minor, click on the appropriate section below; track your progress using the Interdisciplinary Science program requirement worksheet/checklist for the year in which you declare. NOTE: Not all courses are offered every semester or every year. We have indicated the course rotations (spring or fall semester, or alternate years) and which components of the major it satisfies.
Identifying Courses
During registration, use the University Course Catalog to identify Interdisciplinary Science courses. Students are strongly encouraged to supplement the IS curriculum with courses in other areas of study, depending on interest and in consultation with academic advisors. For example, students have completed courses offered by Anthropology, Environmental Studies, Integrated Arts, History, Psychology, and Urban Studies.
Students can search in the University Course Catalog for courses that address these topics by keyword in title, title and description, and/or subject code (LSCI = Lang Science, LMTH = Lang Math, NFDS = Food Studies, UENV = Environmental Studies, PSAM = Parsons Art, Media, and Technology, NINT = International Affairs, EPMS = Environmental Policy and Sustainable Management, LPSY/NPSY = Psychology, LANT/NANT/GANT = Anthropology, UURB = Urban Studies, UGLB = Global Studies, LCST = Culture and Media Studies).
Some courses are offered only in the fall or spring semesters, others in alternate years. Students interested in knowing the frequency of specific course offerings can review Interdisciplinary Science courses offered in various terms at the University Course Catalog.
Courses in Related Programs That Connect to Science and Math
Majors and minors are encouraged to supplement the required curriculum with courses from other areas of study. Below are courses offered by other departments and schools that incorporate science, math, and technology in the context of culture, social justice, history, and sustainability. Courses numbered 4500 are open to undergraduate juniors and seniors. Courses numbered 5000 or higher are graduate-level and require permission of the instructor. Courses that have been popular in the past include the following:
- GANT5610 Science and Society
- LANT 2420 Psychedelics and Mysticism
- LANT 2530 Introduction to Medical Anthropology
- LANT 3024 Politics of Health, Medicine, and the Body
- LANT 3201 Evolution, Culture, and the Mind
- LCOD 2000 Code as a Liberal Art
- LCST 3069 Science Fiction Techno/Culture/Embodiment/Power
- LCST 3875 Queer Ecologies
- LHIS 3091 Science Technology, Medicine, and Society
- LINA 2064 Pandemic Protocols
- LPHI 3052 Death of Nature
- LPHI 3122 Philosophy of Science
- LSCT 4043 Reimagining the Human
- NANT 3213 Race and Biology
- NEPS 5001 Climate Change: Systemic Crisis and Systemic Change
- NEPS 5020 Indigenous Ecologies
- NEPS 5022 Environmental Justice: Race, Class, and the Environment
- NFDS 3714 Food and the Environment
- NINT 5155 Tools for Environmental Management
- UENV 2000 Environment and Society
- UENV 2100 Environmental History, Race, and Natural Resource Management
- UENV 2400 Urban Ecology
- UENV 3100 Black Geographies
- UENV 3200 Spatial Thinking with GIS
- UENV 3400 Urban Resilience
- UENV 3501 Economics of the Environment
- UENV 3601 Ecofeminism and Global Justice
- UENV 3750 Green Roof Ecology
- UENV 4013 Renewable Energy Systems
- UENV 4714 Food and the Environment
- UGLB 4320 Indigenous Politics and Environmental Justice
- UTNS 5210 Mindfulness and Sacred Ecologies
- UTNS 5465 Global Pandemics in an Unequal World
Courses in STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, and Design)
These courses are open to all students and can be found across many departments. Courses that have been popular in the past include the following:
- LCST 3069 Science/ Fiction: Technoculture, Embodiment, and Power
- LCST 3267 Art and the Politics of the Earth
- LINA 2064 Pandemic Protocols
- LLSJ 3505 Visualizing Data
- LNGC 1400 Bio, Art, and Social Justice
- LTHR 2053 Acting for the Camera: Science on Film (community partner: Imagine Science Films)
- LTHR 2917 Theater and Eco Justice Education (community partners: I Have A Dream and Public School 33)
- PSDS 2640 Honeybee Colonies: Art, Design, Science, and Culture
- PSAM 2890 Photography and Climate Change: Art in the Anthropocene
- PSAM 5550 Communitology Collab
- PSAM 5555 Collab: Bio Design Challenge (international competition)
- PSCE 4051 Build Your Own Factory
- PSCE 5181 Soft Fab
- PUDM 2700 Information Visualization