An Integration of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics: The Interdisciplinary Laboratory

As a new venture to integrate research and education, a pilot section of a first-year laboratory sequence known as the Interdisciplinary Laboratory (ID Lab) was introduced on the Harvey Mudd campus during the 1999–2000 academic year and continues to be offered. The ID Lab attempts to bridge laboratory experiences from biology, chemistry, and physics for the first-year student. Taught by a team of faculty from these disciplines, the course seeks both to illustrate commonality of investigative methods and laboratory techniques in these sciences and to introduce discipline-specific principles. Experiments with a chemistry component include the Molecular Weight of Macromolecules, the Synthesis and Characterization of Liquid Crystals, A Structure–Activity Investigation of Photosynthetic Electron Transport, a Genetic Map of a Bacterial Plasmid, and The Carbonate Content of Biological Hard Tissue. This article provides some details of the experiments conducted, information on the philosophy and mechanics of the course, and a discussion of student reaction to this innovative and novel course.