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At many universities, interdisciplinary research is like the weather:
Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. This
is not the case here at Utah. One of the unique strengths of our Psychology
program is the extent to which both students and faculty collaborate
across traditional disciplinary boundaries to conduct cutting-edge
research. For example, many of the active grants in the department
have co-investigators from different sub-areas, such as Clinical and
Developmental, or Social and Health. It is also quite common for graduate
students to pursue coursework and conduct research with faculty in
different areas, and faculty often co-teach graduate seminars with
colleagues in different areas. The strengths of this approach to graduate
training are numerous. As the field of psychology becomes increasingly
sophisticated, the most successful researchers are those who rigorously
integrate diverse theories and methods, bringing a fresh perspective
to familiar questions and producing findings that are relevant to
the field as a whole, not just a select niche.
Some students choose to officially credential their cross-area specialization
by meeting formal course requirements for two different areas, such
as Clinical and Developmental. Also, some cross-area specializations
(such as Health) have developed their own set of formal requirements
over the years. In other cases, students can embark upon joint specialization
more informally, simply pursuing the cross-area coursework and research
that suits their interests and meets their intellectual needs. The
choice depends upon your own career goals. For example, those planning
on becoming practicing child psychologists might want their degree
to officially reflect a cross-specialization in Clinical and Developmental
psychology. Those planning on a research career bridging social and
health psychology might simply collaborate with faculty in both areas,
allowing their cross-area research expertise and publications to speak
for themselves. If you are considering cross-area research, we strongly
encourage you to contact the faculty members you are interested in
working with, and we can help you determine what type of joint specialization
is most appropriate for your career goals. We also encourage you to
contact current and former graduate students, who can give you first-hand
accounts of their experiences with cross-area research here at Utah. |
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