Advising and Resources

To find out about events and opportunities, subscribe to the Interdisciplinary Science Blog. 

• Alumni biographies
• Department news and events
• Interdisciplinary Science Photo Galleries

Read biographies of alumni to understand how their career trajectories were influenced by their curricular or co-curricular choices.

Current Interdisciplinary Science courses

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 Requirement Worksheet (checklist) and Suggested Four-Year Schedule of courses to meet the requirements
  • Complete the Personal Statement 

Selecting Courses

Courses offered in this program incorporate science, math, and technology in the context of health and the environment. 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 Lang course finder 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 Lang Course Finder. 

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:

PSAM 5860A Currents: Data Structures
PUDM 2700 Information Visualization (permission)
LANT 3041 Ape Cultures and Human Nature
LANT 6141 Apes and Anthropologists
NANT 3520 Media, Health, Culture, and Social Change
LLSJ 3505 Visualizing Data
LPSY 2042 Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology
LPSY 2772 Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Health
NPSY 3843 Health Psychology
LEDU 3961 HealthClass 2.0 Practicum
UENV 3425 Student Environmental Activism Seminar Practicum
UENV 4703 Social Justice and the Food System
UENV 3200 Spatial Thinking with GIS
UGLB 3716 Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice
LECO 2029 Economics of Disasters
LHIS 2221 Power and Biology: The Global South and the History of Science
LHIS 3027 From the Plague to AIDS and Beyond: Global Histories of Disease
GANT 6125 Anthropology of Bioethics and Biomedicine
NEPS 5001 Climate Change and Cities
NEPS 5006 Principles of Environmental Science (seniors only)

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:

LNGC 1XXX Biology, Art, and Social Justice
LINA 2040 The Art of Information
PSAM 5960 Bioart Studio
PSCE 3030 Color and Light
LMTH 2104 Visualizing Patterns and Space
LSCI 2031 Light and Color
LSCI 3045 Imaging Life
PUDM 2700 Information Visualization
LMTH 2105 Making Math and Art
LINA 3040 Arts and Neuroscience
PSCE 5003 Topic: Sustainable Design
PSCE 5035 Topic: Water
PGTE 5598 Data Visualization

Fellowships and Funding

• Post-Graduate Health Fellowships:
  Find funding and fellowships for IS majors and minors.
• Also visit the Eugene Lang College Science and Math Fellows Program to learn about on-campus opportunities.

Internships and Research Experiences

• Finding, applying for, and funding undergraduate internships for IS majors and minors 
• By category:
  • Biology, Climate Science, Ecology, Education, Math/Big Data, and Public Health
  • Environment and Journalism
    

Grants

• Writing Grant Proposals: The Foundation Center at 32 Old Slip, 24th Floor, is a wonderful resource open to New School students. The center has short course tutorials such as  How to Write a Grant Proposal. 

• Pedagogies and Education Opportunities for IS Majors and Minors:
  • Extracurricular learning
  • Post-graduate options
  • Graduate-level courses at The New School
  • Professional health science programs

• Graduate School Opportunities and Resources:
  • Emerging PhD and graduate school options
  • Health Fellowships post-grad
  • Post-Bac Programs
  • Preparing Grad School applications
    • Components of a graduate school application
    • Guidelines to obtain letters of recommendation or support
    • Tips on writing your personal statement
    • National Institutes of Health video and Q&A: A video about writing choosing a graduate school, writing the personal statement, and developing your career path. The video on writing personal statements is long but has a helpful question-and-answer at the end, and although it is science-based, there are some takeaways for other interdisciplinary programs as well.

Creating a Mentor Network

Presenting Your Work

Learn how to showcase your work. Turn your semester project, paper, or research study into a poster presentation and gradually progress to a full-length publication or oral presentation.

Study Abroad

Opportunities specific to health and the environment

Summer Programs

Find programs that combine academic coursework with experiential learning. Themes include the environment, bioethics, biostats and big data, and stem cell research.

• Microsoft Office
• Adobe Creative Cloud

The New School is committed to the promotion of practices and policies that support social justice. A University Wide Committee made up of student, staff, and faculty as well as many students organizations seek to achieve this goal through programming, curriculum, and community action on and off campus. Visit the pages below to learn more.

• Lang’s Office of Civic Engagement and Social Justice.
• Lang Opportunity Awards. Financial awards to support innovative student-directed projects; study abroad, summer fellow programs, etc.
• The New School Social Justice Blog.
• Social Innovation Initiative. Students collaborate with other New School stakeholders to design new products, services, organizations, policies, technologies, and systems that improve lives.
• New Challenge. An annual ideas competition that offers students up to $10,000 to develop tangible real-world projects, products, organizations, and the like aimed at solving problems in diverse communities. 
• The New School Higher Education Opportunity Program. Provides academic support and financial assistance to young people who might not meet all the traditional college admission criteria but show promise of succeeding in college.

In addition, the Interdisciplinary Science program seeks to support scientific innovation through responsible and ethical practices. The following organizations reflect our philosophy and mission. They stay up-to-date on the challenges facing scientists and the public, and they publish blogs and journals dedicated to this interface.

• The Center for Genetics and Society
• The Council for Responsible Genetics
• Scidev.net
• Sustainable South Bronx
• WeAct for Environmental Justice
• Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
• RNA Lab (Race, Neighborhoods, and African American Health)
• The People’s Science
• Teaching Tolerance (science-specific story)