Video: Overcoming the Challenges of Effective Communication

R&D that blurs disciplinary boundaries often yields revolutionary discoveries and products, yet there is little established advice for early career engineers pursuing these highly ambitious interdisciplinary projects. Even less advice exists for effectively overcoming the inevitable challenges—especially for how to effectively communicate across disciplinary borders. Although each interdisciplinary endeavor is unique, there are common communication pitfalls that exist regardless of disciplines involved, which emerge due to differing knowledge, skills, and values.

Paul Egan, Ph.D., Engineering Design and Computing Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland aims to deliver guidelines for effectively communicating across disciplines while pursuing interdisciplinary endeavors—the advice that all interdisciplinary engineers wish they had, but never heard.