Our society faces daunting challenges in areas such as renewable energy and biomedicine, requiring collaboration among leaders in science, engineering, and social science.  Despite this need for multidisciplinary integration, university science education remains rooted in separate silos.  We are tackling this issue through the Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) program, a new model of integrative education that sets multidisciplinary student teams to work on significant societal problems.  iCons aims to produce the next generation of leaders in science with the attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to solve the multidisciplinary problems facing our world.  iCons does not replace science or engineering majors, which remain important for imparting disciplinary expertise.  Instead, iCons enhances disciplinary knowledge by training students to excel in diverse teams, cross disciplinary boundaries, and exert leadership in their search for technical solutions to societal problems.  iCons achieves these objectives through a four-year program of case studies, student-driven lab work, and research, as will be described in this talk.

Revolution in university science education: Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) at UMass Amherst for today's students and tomorrow's leaders

244th National Meeting (2012)

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