Interdisciplinary graduate programs promote intellectual growth and offer distinct challenges to conventional thinking. They address areas that are too broad or too complex to be dealt with adequately by a single academic discipline. Interdisciplinary programs are essential for the education of graduate students involved in projects concerned with the nurturing of technology from concept to realization. It is also the case that some interesting scholarly areas involve the blending of two or more academic disciplines, for example, management science juxtaposes operations research and business.

Interdisciplinary programs are different than traditional programs in that students study collaboratively across departments. Students have a primary, or "home", department and they work with a faculty advisor to develop a study plan that will help them earn their degree. As such, a student's required courses are determined in consultation with their faculty advisor(s) and academic departments. Depending on the student's primary department, their may be specific course requirements.