Since I am in the SHURE-Grid Fellowship this summer, I have been placed in a cohort with students from different backgrounds. Throughout this summer, I hope that working with my cohort will allow me to create new knowledge while also learning about their personal goals and ambitions. I think that my team is a valuable source of knowledge since they are computer and information science majors, whereas I am a finance/business analytics major. By combining skills in technical areas, networking, and critical thinking, our group will be able to achieve more than a group that is solely comprised of one discipline.

There are many similarities between my team’s project and the project of the other SHURE-Grid group. While we are trying to justify CIE, they are exploring the tradeoffs of CIE. Both share many similarities, though my team has decided to focus on cyber policy for now, while the other team is delving into the more technical aspects of electrical systems. Outside of the SHURE-Grid group, there were many fascinating research projects being done by students in the Brackenridge Fellowship. One student I met was researching how the socioeconomic conditions experienced in childhood affect decision making in adulthood.

One of the benefits of working with people across disciplines is that problem-solving becomes much easier because people can contribute different ideas to the solution. Interdisciplinary groups are capable of generating more creative ideas and arriving at an answer in a shorter amount of time. Some obstacles that these groups tend to face is internal conflict about leadership and whose ideas are worth pursuing. If left without a clear leader, these groups may be unable to work together, at least in the beginning. However, I think that interdisciplinary teams are wholly advantageous when considering a complex, multi-faceted problem.