Parental involvement in interventions is key to their success. Drawing on data from an ongoing book-based parenting intervention aimed at increasing knowledge of child development among fathers and mothers of infants, we examined parents' participation and quality of their engagement in the first 2 waves of the intervention, when children were 9 to 12 months old. We also examined the factors that predicted parents' level of participation in the intervention. We report 2 sets of findings. First, parents participated an average of 2.6 times per week, and mothers participated more frequently than fathers. Almost all parents reported that they enjoyed reading the books regardless of their level of participation, though mothers reported slightly more enjoyment than fathers. Second, results of regression tree analyses showed that the most important predictor of mothers' and fathers' participation in the intervention was whether or not their partner was also participating. The other important set of predictors was the level of resources, hours worked, education, and household income for fathers and employment status and income for mothers. Our findings have important implications for improving fathers' and mothers' participation in interventions. Public Significance StatementIncreasing parent involvement in interventions is a primary goal of programs and policymakers. In this study, we found that mothers participated in a book-based parenting intervention more often than fathers. We also found that for both fathers and mothers, the most important factor that predicted their intervention involvement was their partner's involvement.

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Food, energy and water (FEW) systems are critically stressed worldwide. These challenges require transformative science, engineering and policy solutions. However, cross-cutting solutions can only arise through transdisciplinary training of our future science and policy leaders. The University of Maryland Global STEWARDS National Science Foundation Research Traineeship seeks to meet these needs. This study assessed a foundational component of the program: a novel, experiential course focused on transdisciplinary training and communication skills. We drew on data from the first two offerings of the course and utilized a mixed-method, multi-informant evaluation that included validated pre–post surveys, individual interviews and focus groups. Paired Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon tests were used to compare pre- and post-means. After the course, students reported improvements in their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses of multiple FEW nexus disciplines; articulate interplays between FEW systems at multiple scales; explain to peers the most important aspects of their research; and collaborate with scientists outside their field. Students also reported improvements in their oral and written communication skills, along with their ability to critically review others’ work. Our findings demonstrate that this graduate course can serve as an effective model to develop transdisciplinary researchers and communicators through cutting edge, experiential curricular approaches.

The current challenges at the forefront of data-enabled science and engineering require interdisciplinary solutions. Yet most traditional doctoral programs are not structured to support successful interdisciplinary research. Here we describe the design of and students’ experiences in the COMBINE (Computation and Mathematics for Biological Networks) interdisciplinary graduate program at the University of Maryland. COMBINE focuses on the development and application of network science methods to biological systems for students from three primary domains: life sciences, computational/engineering sciences, and mathematical/physical sciences. The program integrates three established models (T-shaped, pi-shaped and shield-shaped) for interdisciplinary training. The program components largely fall into three categories: (1) core coursework that provides content expertise, communication, and technical skills, (2) discipline-bridging elective courses in the two COMBINE domains that complement the student’s home domain, (3) broadening activities such as workshops, symposiums, and formal peer-mentoring groups. Beyond these components, the program builds community through both formal and informal networking and social events. In addition to the interactions with other program participants, students engage with faculty in several ways beyond the conventional adviser framework, such as the requirement to select a second out-of-field advisor, listening to guest speakers, and networking with faculty through workshops. We collected data through post-program surveys, interviews and focus groups with students, alumni and faculty advisors. Overall, COMBINE students and alumni reported feeling that the program components supported their growth in the three program objectives of Network Science & Interdisciplinarity, Communication, and Career Preparation, but also recommended ways to improve the program. The value of the program can be seen not only through the student reports, but also through the students’ research products in network science which include multiple publications and presentations. We believe that COMBINE offers an effective model for integrated interdisciplinary training that can be readily applied in other fields.

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