It almost seems like interdisciplinary research is no longer a choice, but a necessity. Our understanding of the world around us is becoming too large to remained stuck in one discipline focus. Graduate students are no longer going to be able to remain in their ‘comfort zone’ and this interdisciplinary requirement may drastically change the profile of researchers and their skill sets.

I agree with you that guns do not belong on campuses. However, is making campuses “gun free zones” going to decrease the amount of school shootings? I don’t think people looking to cause harm and death are those who would care about following a rule like this…

I think that VT focused on undergraduate students more than enough. You can see that there is no balance between the number of undergraduate and graduate students at VT. But, there is a logical balance as MIT. For this reason, MIT could attract more fund and opportunities.

Collaboration is the key to interdisciplinary research. Though I often get worried which discipline I should fit in after years of work on interdisciplinary topics.