Mellon Interdisciplinary Fellows - Incite at Columbia University

Supported by the Mellon Foundation for 10 years, the Mellon Interdisciplinary Fellows Program brought together 200 advanced, talented graduate students from the humanities and social sciences at Columbia University for training.

The program aimed to foster their ability to incorporate the methods, approaches, and knowledge of both fields into their research. Additionally, it provided an intellectual and material environment for completing high-quality dissertations.

Fellows came from departments across the humanities, such as music, English, history and philosophy, among others; and from across the social sciences, such as economics, sociology, political science and sociomedical sciences, among others.

Features and requirements

This program featured both research and administrative support. In particular, the program offered min-grants, summer stipends, mentoring, supplies, and technological support to Fellows.

The program's bi-weekly seminary was the intellectual focus point. While exposing fellows to the work of scholars from multiple disciplines, it gave them the opportunity to present their research. Through participation in this forum, students gained insights into the reasoning, methods, and specific research of the humanities and social sciences and how they can be applied to their work.

Each year a seminar session was devoted to a particular concept that is analytically important for both the humanities and the social sciences, such as the concept of explanation, the role of research methods or what constitutes evidence in different fields. Fellows worked with the program directors to identify this theme and select readings.

In addition, optional four two-day short courses were offered annually on a range of topics that are jointly important for both humanities and social science students. Courses covered such topics as specific research methods or concepts such as temporality, silence in narrativity, or geographic space.

Alumni

Program Fellows Directory, 1999–2015

Partial List of Program Alumni Works