Inter/disciplining Identities: How Disciplinary Identity Impacts Interdisciplinary Collaboration

This study explores how disciplinary identity construction in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) graduate education can hinder the development of interdisciplinary scientists. While past research exploring interdisciplinary science often highlights knowledge incompatibilities as the primary obstacle hindering collaboration, our findings suggest that identity incompatibilities also contribute significantly to the ongoing challenges in interdisciplinary research. To examine the identity construction processes during graduate education, we extend research on disciplinary identity by linking it to existing research in organizational discourse and discursive identity. Through this discursive identity framework, we analyze a cohort of science graduate students—half of whom participate in an NSF-sponsored interdisciplinary training program—to illustrate how social-disciplinary pressures inadvertently discourage trainees from embracing interdisciplinary identities. As a result, these pressures limit the formation of robust interdisciplinary identities among emerging scientists. We conclude by discussing implications involving potential paths toward overcoming the insufficiencies of interdisciplinary discourses.