OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Water resources are central to Oregon's well-being and development. Oregon State University is the state's flagship university for training water professionals with a rich roster of faculty and courses.
The Water Resources Graduate Program at Oregon State University is an interdisciplinary program that intentionally incorporates perspectives from and collaboration across multiple disciplines. Graduate faculty in the program include faculty from more than fourteen departments and programs across eight different colleges (Agriculture; Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Engineering; Forestry; Public Health and Human Sciences; Liberal Arts; Science; and Business).
In Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research (2005), the National Academies provided the following definition of interdisciplinary research:
“Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.”
Similarly in OSU Water Resources Graduate Programs, we define interdisciplinary education as a way of teaching and learning (including experiential learning through research) that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from multiple disciplines. Specifically, interdisciplinary education in water resources should integrate learning among disciplines in STEM-related fields (such as hydrology, technology, engineering, geology, mathematics, et al) with disciplines in the humanities such as public policy, sociology, anthropology, etc.
~National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11153.
We are a community of faculty, students, staff, and alumni engaged in water resource education, research, and outreach at Oregon State University. Our community includes those native to the USA, many of whom are descendants of immigrants, and many who are international scholars or recent immigrants. We are committed to promoting respect, courtesy, and human dignity in our daily professional interactions to create an inclusive environment in the Water Resources Graduate Program.
We value diversity and honor the contributions made to our community by people from diverse disciplines, countries, cultures and identities. We value the free and respectful exchange of ideas and collaborations with those from other disciplines and perspectives, with our colleagues from within the USA and from other countries.
We strive to build a diverse and inclusive environment that honors and respects the contributions and knowledge of all, not only because we believe that doing so will best prepare us to meet future challenges in understanding and sustainably managing the world’s water resources, but also because we believe we have a moral and ethical responsibility to do so.
