Six Northwestern projects received $750,000 last month for applying a lesson everyone learned in kindergarten: cooperation.

The programs, which bring together the teaching and research of different academic departments, were funded as the second group of inter-disciplinary projects by the Cross-School Initiative Program.

“If we bring all the departments together, we’ll create a synergy — a whole larger than its parts,” said Bernard Dobroski, chairman of the program’s evaluation committee. “When music informs physics that informs medicine, the campus will be better for it.”

Prof. Douglas Medin’s submission to the committee is slated to bring together faculty seminars and researchers from the School of Music, the School of Education and Social Policy and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. In addition, it will create a summer research program for undergraduates.

“It’s pretty clear with all the globalization that whether they want to or not they have to adapt to a multicultural society,” Medin said. “A lot of times we’ve worked in ignorance of what other people on campus are doing. The idea is to bring them together into cooperation.”

Another project funded this year will link research of cognitive science and emotional disorders, said Prof. Richard Zinbarg, who helped plan the project. He said that when researchers from different fields work together, they discover things neither would have found alone.

“It leads to cross-fertilization of thinking,” Zinbarg said. “Often times, ideas would emerge if each of the people would share their own perspectives with each other.”

The four-member committee asked for proposals last year to determine if there was interest in forming the cross-school programs. After receiving a dozen proposals, they narrowed the selection to six.

“It was a very important process because it represents a very significant amount of money that we hope will make a significant impact on the university,” Dobroski said.

Six programs also were funded last year during the program’s initial year. Dobroski said that because the programs are in their first stages of seeing results, the committee wants to see what impact they have had so far. Depending on an evaluation, which is set to begin May 15, the committee will determine whether to continue the programs.

But Dobroski said that even if funding is discontinued after one year, the programs still could make an impact. He said the committee selected projects that have potential to receive other grants after one year of funding from NU.

“We’re giving the money as an incubator, to prime the pump for enough success so they can go to a governmental source afterwards,” Dobroski said. “If the program can get a grant from the Feds instead of the university, that’s what we want to do.”

This year the projects were given extra money to use for a public presentation after the projects start to take shape.

“The results are not in a vacuous environment,” Dobroski said. “The whole campus can see how they’re effective and — show that these linkages are important.”

Education Dean Penelope Peterson, a member of the committee, said the programs have the potential to identify new areas of study undergraduates might want to pursue.

“It really is the future for thinking about putting together programs from different schools,” Peterson said. “And they really all focus on things that are going to improve undergraduate study. They’re all innovative and there’s a real spirit of collaboration that doesn’t exist on other campuses.”

Dobroski said every department could improve by working with each other. He said the School of Music students already have benefitted from his commitment to do so.

“Ultimately, the aim is to improve the quality of undergraduate education,” Dobroski said. “Our students are better served by having that context.”