As the issues facing the world become more complicated, their solutions must also be multifaceted. To prepare students for this reality, Stanford is incorporating a range of innovative cross-disciplinary learning experiences into all graduate degree programs—from seminars and courses to summer institutes and joint degrees. These unique opportunities to work with colleagues in different fields expose students to other ways of thinking and help them develop a collaborative and creative approach to problem solving.

In order to give students the same multidisciplinary opportunities in research, the university has established the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships Program (SIGF). By providing three years of direct support to doctoral students, the SIGF Program enables these rising scholars to move freely across academic lines to pursue vital and cutting-edge research questions and collaborate with faculty in different departments.

Together, these powerful learning and research experiences provide Stanford graduate students with the skills and knowledge they will need as leaders to forge effective and sustainable answers to the complex challenges facing society.