Interdisciplinary work is incredibly hard to pull off in academia due to tribal affiliations. I think the MSR NYC lab (where I work), which consists of computer scientists, economists, and other social scientists, is one of the few places I've seen it actually flourish.
I don't think interdisciplinary work has to be between fields that disparate to begin with either. From personal experience, I think there are definite benefits from just having different fields of engineering collaborate and share ideas.
