UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The way Penn State researchers are breaking down traditional interdepartmental barriers in order to collaborate and solve problems will be featured during President Eric J. Barron’s monthly WPSU show on Sunday, March 25.

On WPSU’s “Digging Deeper,” Barron will welcome Clive Randall, a professor of materials science and engineering and the director of the Materials Research Institute, and Daniel Hayes, an associate professor of biomedical engineering. The group will discuss “Convergence Research,” a multidisciplinary holistic research philosophy at the Millennium Science Complex.

WPSU Penn State’s “Digging Deeper” will air at 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on WPSU-TV.

Randall said interdisciplinary research is not new to Penn State, but the convergence model structure has been helped through the vision of the Millennium Science Complex.

“It has taken a while to get there because people have to get out their comfort zones to have a biologist talk to a material scientist, or a mathematician or a physicist,” he said.

The Millennium Science Complex brings together engineering, physical science and life science researchers under one roof with the hopes of tackling and solving some the world’s most unique problems. The complex houses two of the University’s research organizations: the Materials Research Institute and the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences.

Visit the WPSU website for more information and to watch archived episodes.