#869: Building Collaborative Infrastructure: Epistemic Growth in Early-Career Interdisciplinary Partnerships

We invite learning scientists to examine how epistemic emotions shape the development of interdisciplinary collaboration among early-career scholars. Using the Apt AIR framework, we analyze four months of online interaction in an international, self-initiated research team. Findings show that epistemic emotions such as curiosity and gratitude actively reconfigure aims, ideals, and reliable processes, driving a shift from logistical coordination toward collaborative knowledge building. The study highlights how emotion and epistemic cognition intertwine in sustaining purposeful scholarly partnerships.