The Interdisciplinary Initiative (Int-Init) is a group of students at Carnegie Mellon University who, in their own words, want to disrupt academic silos and support their peers in pursuing interests beyond traditional fields of inquiries. Before COVID-19 shuttered campus, they hosted two Not-A-Hackathon events. In addition, they created an Office Hours podcast to interview pairs of professors about interdisciplinary issues.

Last April, Susan Finger and I had the honor to participate in an Office Hours conversation with Int-Init students Joyce Wang, Nihar Dalal, and Adhiti Chundur. We reflected on the magic of curiosity, the art of overcoming the “outsider” feeling in academic and social spheres, and the current challenges with online learning. You can listen in on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.