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Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative (2020)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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Evaluation of the
MINERVA
RESEARCH
INITIATIVE

Committee to Assess the Minerva Research
Initiative and the Contribution of Social Science to
Addressing Security Concerns

Allen L. Schirm, Krisztina Marton, and Jeanne C. Rivard, Editors

Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

A Consensus Study Report of

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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Defense (#W911NF-13-D-0002, DO #4). Support for the work of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences is provided primarily by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award No. BCS-1729167). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-49428-1
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25482.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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COMMITTEE TO ASSESS THE MINERVA RESEARCH INITIATIVE AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE TO ADDRESSING SECURITY CONCERNS

ALLEN L. SCHIRM (Chair), Mathematica Policy Research (retired)

BURT S. BARNOW, The George Washington University

KAREN S. COOK, Stanford University

SUSAN E. COZZENS, Georgia Institute of Technology

BARBARA ENTWISLE, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

IVY ESTABROOKE, PolarityTE, Inc.

PAUL A. GADE, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (retired)

ROBERT M. HAUSER, American Philosophical Society

STEVEN G. HEERINGA, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

DANIEL R. ILGEN, Michigan State University

VIRGINIA LESSER, Oregon State University

ARTHUR LUPIA, University of Michigan*

KATHRYN E. NEWCOMER, The George Washington University

MARK L. WEISS, National Science Foundation (retired)

KRISZTINA MARTON, Study Director

JEANNE C. RIVARD, Senior Program Officer

ANTHONY MANN, Program Associate

ADRIENNE STITH BUTLER, Associate Board Director

*Resigned from the committee effective September 1, 2018.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
×

BOARD ON BEHAVIORAL, COGNITIVE, AND SENSORY SCIENCES

SUSAN FISKE (Chair), Eugene Higgins Professor, Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

JOHN BAUGH, Margaret Bush Wilson Professor, Linguistics, Washington University, St. Louis

LAURA CARSTENSEN, Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor, Public Policy, Department of Psychology, Stanford University

JUDY DUBNO, Professor, Medical University of South Carolina

JENNIFER EBERHARDT, Director and Research Professor, Institute for Social Research, Stanford University

WILSON S. GEISLER, David Wechsler Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas

MICHELLE GELFAND, Professor of Psychology and Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland

NANCY G. KANWISHER, Professor, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JANICE KIECOLT-GLASER, Distinguished University Professor, S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine, and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, Ohio State University College of Medicine

WILLIAM (BILL) MAUER, Professor of Anthropology, Law and Criminology, and Law and Society; Dean, School of Social Sciences; and Director, Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, University of California, Irvine

TERRIE E. MOFFITT, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

ELIZABETH A. PHELPS, Pershing Square Professor of Human Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

STEVEN E. PETERSEN, James S. McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in Neurology, Washington University

DANA SMALL, Professor and Deputy Director, Yale University

TIMOTHY J. STRAUMAN, Professor, Duke University

BARBARA A. WANCHISEN, Board Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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Acknowledgments

On behalf of the Committee to Assess the Minerva Research Initiative and the Contribution of Social Science to Addressing Security Concerns, we thank the many people who contributed their time and expertise to assist in the committee’s work and the preparation of this report. The study was initiated by the Department of Defense (DoD), under the leadership of then–director of the Basic Research Office, Robin Staffin, and Minerva Research Initiative interim director Lisa Troyer, and has greatly benefited from the input and continued support of DoD’s senior management. We are particularly grateful to Minerva Research Initiative director, David Montgomery, for facilitating the work of the committee.

DoD staff readily assisted the committee through presentations and responses to a large number of requests for background materials about the Minerva Research Initiative. We thank not only David Montgomery and Lisa Troyer, but also Bindu Nair, Kaleb Redden, Benjamin Knott, Gary Kollmorgen, and Martin Kruger.

The committee is grateful for the input provided during our public sessions by Minerva grantees, national security experts, representatives of social science organizations, and staff from other government agencies, including (but not limited to) those who are named in Appendix G of the report. Special appreciation is extended to current and former DoD personnel, principal investigators of Minerva grants, and staff of academic offices of sponsored research who shared their valuable time by participating in interviews and surveys conducted by the committee for this evaluation. The committee also thanks Diana Hicks, Georgia Institute of Technology, for expert consultation on methods for evaluating research outputs.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Myron P. Gutmann, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder; Brian Nosek, Center for Open Science, University of Virginia; Sarah M. Nusser, Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology, Iowa State University; Joy Rohde, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; C. Matthew Snipp, Department of Sociology and Stanford Secure Data Center, Stanford University; Robert J. Ursano, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress and Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and Alyson Wilson, Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by report review coordinator Jonathan D. Moreno, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania Health System and report review monitor Anita K. Jones, School of Engineering, University of Virginia. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Finally, we thank the National Research Council staff who contributed to this study. We are grateful for the guidance and support received from Barbara Wanchisen, director of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences (BBCSS); Adrienne Stith Butler, deputy director of BBCSS; Jeanne Rivard, senior program officer; Constance Citro, senior scholar with the Committee on National Statistics; and Brian HarrisKojetin, director of the Committee on National Statistics. Kirsten Sampson Snyder expertly coordinated the review process, and Rona Briere provided thoughtful editorial help. We thank program associate Anthony Mann for his good humor and many skills in providing logistical support for the committee’s meetings. We also thank the staff of the National Academies’ Research Center Library, Colleen Willis and Christopher Lao-Scott, for

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
×

research support and assistance with the use of library resources during the evaluation. To conclude these acknowledgments, Allen would like to thank Krisztina for her exceptional contributions as study director. The evaluation would have been far less successful without her hard work and tremendous management and research skills. Collaborating on this study with Krisztina was a pleasure.

Allen L. Schirm, Chair

Krisztina Marton, Study Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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Acronyms

AAA American Anthropological Association
AFOSR Air Force Office of Scientific Research
ARO Army Research Office
ASD R&E Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
BAA Broad Agency Announcement (for funding)
BRO Basic Research Office
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DoD Department of Defense
FOA Funding Opportunity Announcement
IRB Institutional Review Board
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MRI Minerva Research Initiative
NORC National Opinion Research Center
NSF National Science Foundation
ONR Office of Naval Research
OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense
OUSD Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
OUSD-Policy Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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OUSD-R&E Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
SJR Scimago Journal Ranking
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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4 RESEARCH SUPPORTED BY THE MINERVA PROGRAM: QUANTITY AND QUALITY

Review of Outputs of the Minerva Research Initiative Grants

Stakeholder and Expert Perceptions of the Quality of Minerva Research

Summary and Conclusions

5 DIRECTION AND VISION OF THE MINERVA PROGRAM

Making Better Use of Minerva Research and Researchers

Discussion of Minerva’s Vision and Goals

Increasing Social Scientists’ Engagement with the Program

Developing Benchmarks for Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

A-1 2017 Preliminary Federal Obligations for Basic Research, by Agency and Field of Science and Engineering (dollars in thousands)

A-2 2016 Federal Obligations for Basic Research Performed at Universities and Colleges in Social Sciences, by Selected Agency and Detailed Field (dollars in thousands)

B Minerva Research Topics in Grant Announcements Issued between 2008 and 2018

C List of Minerva Grant Awards between 2009 and 2017

D Interview Protocol for Individual Interviews with Current and Former Minerva Research Initiative Staff

E Survey of Minerva Grantees

F Survey of Administrators of Sponsored Research

G Individuals Who Provided Input during the Committee’s Public Meetings

H Output Categories and Coding Notes

I Publications and Presentations by Year (rounded to nearest whole number)

J-1 Impact Metrics of Journals in Which Minerva Principal Investigators Reported Publishing

J-2 Journals without Journal-Level Impact Factor Scores in Which Minerva Principal Investigators Published

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25482.
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The Minerva Research Initiative is a Department of Defense (DoD) social science grant program that funds unclassified basic research relevant to national security. The goal of the program is to make use of the intellectual capital of university-based social scientists to inform understanding of issues important to DoD and the broader national security community. Evaluation of the Minerva Research Initiative discusses the program's successes and challenges over its first decade of operation, and highlights ways to strengthen the program's foundations and take advantage of opportunities for broadening its reach and usefulness.

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