Advising and Resources

Subscribe to the Interdisciplinary Science Blog for department information and opportunities, including: 

• Alumni biographies
• Department news and events

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, search for courses with the LSCI and LMTH subject codes in the University Course Catalog and filter for the term for which you are registering. Please note that not all courses are offered every semester or every year. The Interdisciplinary Science worksheet indicates when courses are typically offered. Please consult with the Departmental Faculty Advisor, who can assist you in planning your pathway through the major/minor.

Identifying Courses

During registration, use the University Course Catalog to identify Interdisciplinary Science courses. Be sure to tick the box of the semester for which you will be registering. 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 the 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).

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 is a sample of courses offered by other departments and schools that add perspectives spanning culture, social justice, and history to topics and issues discussed in IS courses. Students interested in considering courses such as the ones listed below are encouraged to discuss this with the Departmental Faculty Advisor. Please note that many of these courses will not count as satisfying IS requirements.

Courses numbered 4500 are open to undergraduate juniors and seniors. Courses numbered 5000 or higher are graduate level and require the permission of the instructor. 

• UTNS 1000 Designing Your Life at The New School—and Beyond
• UENV 2000 Environment and Society
• UENV 2010 Urban Ecosystems
• UENV 3200 Spatial Thinking with GIS
• UENV 3400 Urban Resilience
• UENV 3501 Economics of the Environment
• UENV 3750 Green Roof Ecology
• UENV 4714 Food and the Environment
• UGLB 3245 Social Justice and the Sustainable Food System
• LANT 3110 Migration in the Anthropocene
• LANT 3126 Materiality, Knowledges, Politics: Understanding Race Through Science and Technology Studies
• NANT 3213 Race and Biology
• GANT6410 Science and Society 
• LCOD 2000 Code as a Liberal Art 
• LCOD 2010 Code Toolkit
• LCOD 2012 Code Toolkit: Python
• LCOD 2013 Code Toolkit: Javascript
• LCOD 2422 Coding Natural Language
• LCST 2109 Beyond Sex and Gender
• LCST 3069 Science/Fiction: Technoculture, Embodiment, and Power
• LCST 3875 Queer Ecologies
• LHIS 2200 Global Environmental History
• LHIS 3036 Oil, Energy, and Power in the 20th Century
• LHIS 3091 Science Technology, Medicine, and Society
• LPHI 3122 Philosophy of Science  
• NEPS 5001 Climate Change: Systemic Crisis and Systemic Change
• NEPS 5004 Global Environmental Politics and Policy
• NEPS 5006 Principles of Environmental Science
• NEPS 5013 Renewable Energy Systems
• NEPS 5020 Indigenous Ecologies
• NEPS 5022 Environmental Justice: Race, Class, and the Environment
• NFDS 3714 Food and the Environment
• NINT 5038 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:

• 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)
• LINA 2063 Walking the Edge: Citizen Art and Science on the New York City Shoreline
• UENV 3015 ARTSCI—Environment Lab
• LCST 3267 Art and the Politics of the Earth
• PSDS 2640 Honeybee Colonies: Art, Design, Science, and Culture
• PUDM 2700 Information Visualization 
• PSAM 2890 Photography and Climate Change: Art in the Anthropocene
• LLSJ 3505 Visualizing Data
• PSCE 4051 Build Your Own Factory
• PSDS 3530 Collab: Food + Design
• PSAM 5555 Collab: Bio Design Challenge (international competition) 
• PSCE 5181 Soft Fab
• PSCE 5500 Bio-Climatic Skins

Undergraduate Fellowships, Internships, Research Experiences, and Funding

• Mohn Family Science and Social Justice Fellowship: Competitive merit-based fellowship up to $5,000 for Interdisciplinary Science majors and minors interested in science and social justice internships and/or research experiences in a justice-focused nonprofit organization or laboratory with connections to the arts, design, communication, education, social science research, or the liberal arts. 
  
  
• See the Interdisciplinary Science blog for information and resources concerning:
  • Finding undergraduate internships and research experiences, and funding for IS majors and minors 
  • Preparing Applications

Grants

Writing Grant Proposals

Candid is a wonderful resource for New School students. “Through research, collaboration, and training, Candid connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to do it. Candid's data tools on nonprofits, foundations, and grants are the most comprehensive in the world. Foundation Center and GuideStar joined forces to become Candid, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.”

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
• 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 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.

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

Opportunities to Expand Your Work 

Listed here are resources to connect your work to social justice. Some organizations, projects, and initiatives appear to only follow one thread but if you look deeper you will see that most are interdisciplinary to their core. Use these networks to develop the ideas seeded in course or in life, and look to collaborate and construct communities of practice that can nourish your curiosity and foster life-long learning and service. 

Social Justice at The New School: 

• Facebook group: A New School group in which students share space for communicating, organizing, and sharing ideas on how to critically address issues of social change.
• The New School Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice: This office is committed to collaboration and partnership to address and support the critical issues of equity, inclusion, and social justice throughout The New School community.
• Database of resources: Library Thing list of resources.

Lang's Office of Civic Engagement and Social Justice. 

This office supports events, workshops, and community partnerships as well as awards for students who need financial support to carry out a project that serves the mission of social justice. The office also supports the Gural Scholars program and summer internship support grants. Each week a newsletter summarizes opportunities and highlights the work being done, so look out for your weekly email alert. Learn more about this office, and follow it on Instagram. 

Mohn Family Science and Social Justice Fellows. 

An endowment established by the parents of an alumna of the Interdisciplinary Science program provides merit-based fellowships to students and graduating seniors in need of financial support to carry out work that promotes environmental justice and health equity. A number of local organizations have partnered with the program to offer research experiences and internships that meet these goals. Contact Katayoun Chamany at [email protected]. 

Engaged Learning Opportunities

Students are encouraged to learn about internships, study abroad programs, civic engagement, and social justice opportunities.

New School Student Organizations

This list of student organizations includes Feminist Writers, Students for Social Justice, Sisters on the Runway, Recycled Runway, the BriColab Art Initiative, Musical Theater, Theater Collective, and Slow Food. Find organizations and discover opportunities at Narwhal Nation.

Impact Entrepreneurship Venture Lab

Launched as part of a broader university-wide Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative (IEI), the Venture Lab supports innovative student entrepreneurs who seek to develop and launch financially-sustainable ventures with the potential for scalable impact. Both graduate students and upper undergraduates (juniors and seniors) across The New School may apply to the Venture Lab. Visit the website for more information about the program, application process, and deadlines. 

Democracy and Diversity Fellows 

In the conviction that adequate social and human capital is a crucial element in developing a culture of democratic governance, the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS) creates unique study programs that bring together civic-minded students, junior scholars, and nonprofit professionals from around the world. Its flagship projects, the Democracy & Diversity Summer Institutes conducted in Poland and South Africa, are organized in partnership with key academic and civic actors in the region. Please take a look at the information about the most recent Democracy & Diversity Institutes in Wroclaw and in Johannesburg. Application deadlines are in the fall and spring, and a few undergraduates are selected to join a group of faculty and graduate students.

The Vera List New School Art Collection Awards 

Given out annually to New School students who write or create visual narratives in film and media inspired by works in the university's art collection, these awards were established in 1996 by the late Vera List, a life trustee of The New School. They are distributed by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. Each year, a new theme is chosen to address multifaceted inquiry into the nature of the material world. The awards celebrate a range of media formats, with a first-place award of $400 and a second-place award of $200 in each category. Winners are selected by a jury of prominent faculty members and administrators. The prize-winning pieces are edited by professional art critics in collaboration with their authors and are published in the annual award poster/site, which is designed together with Illustration faculty members from Parsons School of Design. 

Student Leadership and Involvement

Discover many opportunities for making change on or beyond our campus.

Other Organizations

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 publish blogs and journals that explore these issues.

• The Center for Genetics and Society
• Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
• The Council for Responsible Genetics
• New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
• The Plenary
• RNA Lab (Race, Neighborhoods, and African American Health)
• Scidev.net
• Sustainable South Bronx
• Teaching Tolerance (science-specific story)
• UPROSE
• WeAct for Environmental Justice