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Recent studies of graduate education in science and engineering recommend a new pathway for graduate education, emphasizing interdisciplinary interactions, to prepare a versatile workforce that will be able to contribute in a global environment. The National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (NSF IGERT) has funded over 100 projects addressing this need. As these projects progress it is important to assess their successes, best practices and common difficulties. This paper describes one NSF IGERT project, "Graduate Training in Optical Molecular Bio-Engineering," at the University of Texas at Austin, the integrated approach used to carry out its assessment, and how results of the assessment have been used to help achieve the goals of the program. We find that the total number of interdisciplinary scholarly activities (presentations, publications, funded research proposals and patent applications) reported by IGERT faculty and students rose steadily throughout the period of the IGERT award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pays tribute to Bernth Lindfors, head of African literature studies at the University of Texas in Austin. Role in bringing together the university's African and Afro-American Research Institute, the Humanities Research Center and the periodical 'Research in African Literatures'; Role as founder and editor of the periodical; Authorship of a biography of Ira Aldridge.

Recent curriculum development projects have introduced geographers to the theory and practice of online instruction. One of these projects, the Virtual Geography Department (VGD) at the University of Texas at Austin, seeks to promote the development of high-quality instructional materials on the Web. Twenty-nine participants in the VGD project were interviewed for the purpose of learning what effects the VGD had on their educational practice. The results show that the VGD is diffusing innovative practice in geography by training faculty members in Web pedagogy and online curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of the Enhancing Undergraduate Research Experience, Knowledge and Access (EUREKA) for undergraduate research in the humanities at the University of Texas-Austin. It mentions that the EUREKA database provides direct benefits to the faculty of the school. It also notes that the database helps researchers find collaborators from other disciplines for grant proposals. Moreover, the model is being implemented at Santa Clara University, where student involvement in research with faculty is the central to the university's philosophy of integrated learning.

This article suggests a list of software engineering topics appropriate for the introductory computer science courses, CS-1 and CS-2. Teaching issues arising from the incorporation of this material include course, project and team organization and activities. Many of the ideas noted here have been applied successfully in our CS-2 class at the University of Texas at Austin. Descriptions of sample projects and courses from the literature illustrate ways other faculty have integrated these approaches. Problem areas such as course organization and handling team problems are discussed and a bibliography of resources is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]