Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research (2005) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 The Drivers of Interdisciplinary Research
2 The Drivers of Interdisciplinary Research
Pages 26-40
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 26... ...
is a mode of research by teams or indi viduals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of spe cialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or field of research practice.
|
From page 27... ...
A borrowed technique may be assimilated so completely that it is no longer considered foreign, and it may transform practice without being considered interdisciplinary.1 An example of borrowing is the use of physical-science methods in biologic research, such as electron microscopy, x-ray crystallography, and spectroscopy. Such borrowing may be so extensive that the origin of the technique is obscured.2 · For purposes of this discussion, multidisciplinary research is taken to mean research that involves more than a single discipline in which each discipline makes a separate contribution.
|
From page 28... ...
SMALL ACADEMIC (< 10 persons) · Bottom-up initiation · Research is primary; training is byproduct · Loose management structure · Many participants have disciplinary research commitments as well LARGE ACADEMIC · Bottom-up initiation, top-down incubation and management · Research and training components · Management by directors who report directly to vice president for research or equivalent · Tend to be permanent features: new building, instrumentation · Some centers "co-hire" faculty, but faculty are affiliated with departments · Space allocation: mix of permanent and "hotel" facilities INDUSTRY · Top-down, product-driven research · Focused on research, not training · Structured management · Discrete timelines and end points · Fluid movement of researchers between teams NATIONAL LABORATORIES · Blend of top-down, mission-driven research and bottom-up initiation · Research and training components · Structured management · Discrete timelines and end points · Fluid movement of researchers between teams INTERINDUSTRY, INTERUNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY · Top-down, societal needs-driven research (can be basic and applied)
|
From page 29... ...
Presentation at Convocation on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, Washington, D.C., January 29, 2004. research often refers to efforts that are additive but not necessarily integrative (see Figure 2-1)
|
From page 30... ...
There is no inside and outside. Alice Gottlieb, professor of medicine and director, Clinical Research Center at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School The committee paid special attention to interdisciplinary education, viewing it as a central component of IDR.
|
From page 31... ...
For these reasons progress in fundamental areas of ocean-atmosphere interactions, biogeochemical cycles, and solar-terrestrial relationships has come far more slowly than in specialized fields, in spite of the obvious practical impor tance of such studies. If, however, we could launch a cooperative interdisciplinary program in the earth sciences, on an international scale, we might hope to take a major step toward revealing the physical, chemical, and biological workings of the Sun-Earth system and the mysteries of the origins and survival of life in the bio sphere.
|
From page 32... ...
Statistical mechanics, for example, unites physicists and mathematicians in studies of substantial depth.7 If science and engineering deal with extremely complex systems, the same is true for studies of human society. How human societies evolve, 7Kafatos and Eisner, ibid.
|
From page 33... ...
Exploring such interfaces and interstices leads investigators beyond their own disciplines to invite the participation of researchers in adjacent or complementary fields and even to stimulate the development of a new interdisciplinary field. Examples include the following: · Biochemistry was long ago considered an interdisciplinary activity; today it has departmental, program, or similar structural status in most major universities.
|
From page 34... ...
In the United States, the effort to expand microwave radar capabilities was concentrated at MIT's Radiation Laboratory, which was staffed by civilian and academic scientists in many disci plines. Projects included physical electronics, microwave physics, electromagnetic properties of matter, and microwave communication principles.
|
From page 35... ...
to develop an atomic bomb was an interdisciplinary effort requiring researchers from many fields and subfields of science and engineering, from the wide sweep of chemistry and physics to the specific skills of uranium refinement, isotope separation, plutonium purification, nuclear decay measurement, nuclear-waste disposal, and radiation biology. Another example is the National Cancer Act, signed by President Nixon in 1971.
|
From page 36... ...
was harnessed as a source of x rays for protein crystallog raphy, and the 1990s saw a great increase in the number of protein structures determined with this technique. Research to develop the technology was an inter disciplinary endeavor.
|
From page 37... ...
http://www.cise.nsf.gov/kdi/eval.html. This cyberinfrastructure might be composed of distributed, high-performance computers, online scientific instruments and sensor arrays, multidisciplinary collections of scientific data, software toolkits for modeling and interactive visualization, and tools that enable close collaboration by physically distributed teams of researchers (see Box 2-5 and Box 9-7)
|
From page 38... ...
According to one of the directors of the MHATT-CAT, University of Michigan Phys ics Professor Roy Clarke, "a very important part of the project is to establish high speed communications that link participating institutions and the facility at the APS, so that our students, particularly our undergraduate researchers, can participate actively in the research while attending classes on their respective campuses."b Others CATs are run by university or industry teams. To enhance communi cation among and between teams, the APS Web site provides a linked list of CATs and offers a listserver for inter-CAT communication.
|
From page 39... ...
is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, per spectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understand ing or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice. 12US National Virtual Observatory.
|
From page 40... ...
Interdisciplinary thinking is rapidly becoming an integral feature of research as a result of four powerful "drivers": the inherent complexity of nature and society, the desire to explore problems and questions that are not confined to a single discipline, the need to solve societal prob lems, and the power of new technologies. Social-science research has not yet fully elucidated the complex social and intellectual processes that make for successful IDR.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.