What to Study to Save the World: Interdisciplinary Studies
Academic interests and, as a result, career fields are rarely so straightforward as to require expertise in one subject and one subject only. It’s an increasingly complicated world we inhabit, and our education must reflect that.
200 years ago, a journalist merely needed to know how to read and write effectively to land a job at a newspaper. That skillset alone placed them leagues ahead of the majority of the adult population at the time. Today, however, journalists must be jacks of all trades, especially early in their careers. They must know how to write and edit their own stories, set up and operate professional camera and lighting equipment, manage multiple social media profiles, and have at least a working knowledge of website development and digital tools needed for post-production, like Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop.
The careers we choose often collide at the intersection of various fields. This is why students who pursue interdisciplinary studies are uniquely positioned to uncover innovative solutions to complex problems. They also display an academic and intellectual flexibility that makes them stronger team members, employees, and researchers. The following interdisciplinary fields are great examples of how mastering two or more seemingly disparate disciplines can lead to significant academic gains that positively impact the world at large.
Artificial Intelligence and Environmental Science
As countries around the world employ their best scientists and researchers in the fight against climate change, AI’s far-reaching applications are helping to lighten the monumental load of saving the world. Governments, businesses, and nonprofits are utilizing artificial intelligence in agriculture and food sustainability to monitor the spread of diseases, track deforestation and crop health, and optimize crop growth patterns. Machine learning models can analyze massive datasets from satellites, drones, and various sensors to predict extreme weather events, develop innovative solutions for conservation efforts, and monitor environmental health.
Students who study artificial intelligence and related fields can use their expertise to support environmental measures like:
Resource management: customized machine learning models can oversee energy consumption in businesses to reduce waste, identify potential threats to water quality, and improve crop yield via predictive analytics
Policy and decision-making: by analyzing diverse and complex data, AI can track environmental footprints and predict the ecological impacts of specific government-led plans, thereby advising policymakers on practical sustainability
Biodiversity and conservation efforts: specific algorithms can help identify new and rare species using camera trap imaging and other datasets; they can also predict and prevent poaching activity to protect endangered animals
The applications for AI in environmental science reveal promising potential for a greener, safer future.
Related Research Program–Decoding the Environment: Applied Machine Learning and Explainable AI for Environmental Applications
Philosophy and Economics
Students at the intersection of philosophy and economics are often tasked with examining the deeper purpose behind economic theories and behavior, thereby adding color and nuance to our collective understanding of human needs and social justice. This may sound abstract and high-level, but the philosophies driving economics affect all of us every day.
This month, the Leadership and Innovation Lab released its September issue of its student-run magazine, The Legacy Gazette. The topic at hand? How for-profit healthcare systems, and their routinely abusive practices, create environments where alleged criminals like Luigi Mangione are lauded as heroes. The issue, Healthcare: Human Rights or Free-Market Freakshow?, critically explores the ethical implications and widespread consequences of the multibillion-dollar healthcare industry. The questions posed by The Legacy Gazette’s editorial board–like who is profiting from these broken systems, is a private healthcare market what’s best for consumers, and is healthcare a human right or a business–are perfect examples of how philosophy and economics intersect.
Students who pursue this interdisciplinary field study ethical questions that address how money and wealth should be distributed, the purpose of markets, and the practical relationship between economic theories and the real world. Several colleges and universities offer majors in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), or just Philosophy and Economics, to prepare students for careers in market research, law, public policy, and more.
Related Research Program–Storytelling Through Research: Humanities and Social Sciences Versatile Research Academy
Law and Anthropology
Legal anthropology, or the anthropology of laws, is an interdisciplinary subfield of anthropology. It analyzes the law from the perspective of how cultures across time have created, interpreted, and navigated legal systems and dilemmas. By studying the law through an anthropological lens, students can gain a deeper understanding of it with a broader social and historical context.
Critical aspects of legal anthropology include conflict management and resolution, cross-cultural comparison, and the study of social orders, human rights, and political uprisings. This academic and career field is especially relevant in the 2020s, when protests and public outrage are reaching a fever pitch around the world. More and more each day, we’re in need of professionals who can provide much-needed guidance and context as we question which laws need to be restructured or dismantled entirely.
Law and anthropology, together, can provide the framework for how we improve our legal systems, nationally and internationally, for the benefit of us all.
Related Research Program–Law and Justice Across Cultures
Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering
The scientific and medical innovations made possible by biotechnology, like gene editing and biomedical engineering, are incredible. CRISPR-Cas9, the renowned gene editing tool that’s revolutionizing the world, enables scientists to modify DNA sequences to treat (and potentially eradicate) genetic diseases and improve agriculture by preventing crop failure or enhancing nutritional value. And through stem cell research, 3D bioprinting, and biomaterials science, biotechnology opens the door to regenerative medicine.
This field, which combines biological knowledge with engineering principles, focuses on repairing, replacing, or completely regenerating damaged, diseased, or even aging tissues and organs. The overwhelmingly positive impact a person with this expertise could make on modern medicine goes without saying.
There are several ethical concerns about biomedical engineering, with many questioning if science is getting dangerously close to playing God, or what the implications are of passing down altered genes to future generations. However, the potential for these powerful tools to do good could alter the course of humanity forever by improving food scarcity, increasing the average human lifespan, and eliminating certain diseases.
Related Research Program–Regenerative Medicine: Cells, Genes, and Biotechnology
Studying an interdisciplinary field in college like the ones listed here could increase students’ earning potential, broaden the number of jobs available to them, and more aptly prepare them to confront the large-scale challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. We’re offering several interdisciplinary research programs this fall. Additionally, we offer customizable 1-on-1 research cohorts year-round for students with niche interests who want to enliven their research with two, three, or even four academic subjects simultaneously. The programs we provide at Scholar Launch are designed to fortify our students with the skills and knowledge necessary to make a positive impact on the world.
For more information about how we can help you or your student succeed, contact us.