Assessment of Fifteen Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Centers? (NSECs) Outcomes and Impacts: Their contribution to NNI Objectives and Goals

纳米科学和纳米工程（“纳米”）的研发非常活跃和多样化，其中大部分是在研究中心的背景下进行的。这些设计是为了促进有效的研究知识转移，而这反过来又取决于理解促进跨学科网络和与应用相关的不同知识领域的整合的机制。研究中心构成了国家纳米技术计划（NNI）的一项关键战略，以汇集资源，促进跨学科研究，并使与工业界的联系能够加速技术转移和纳米技术成果的工业应用（NSET 2007）。研究中心在实现NNI战略计划的所有四个目标方面发挥着作用。快速发展的需要：随着NNI的存在接近十年，该计划的阶段使得了解该领域的愿景是否按计划展开变得极其重要。具体来说，我们需要知道研究中心如何在主题上（通过其他科学和技术成果）和物质上（通过它们对教育和基础设施的贡献）塑造该领域的方向。换句话说，你们的研究中心实际上是如何履行NNI赋予它们的角色的？它们对纳米领域的现状有何贡献？评估信息的时间和重要性为RAPID提案提供了依据，也指出了该项目的更广泛影响。该项目将只关注15个有足够长的资助周期以显示影响的国家科学中心，不会就资助个别中心提出具体建议。它将解决未来中心征集的方案层面。智力价值：纳米中心在NNI框架内的存在期间产生了产出和成果，例如论文，报告，与其他研究团队和行业的合作，专利，引用，这些都被定量跟踪。然而，纳米研究还没有在促进跨学科的机制和中心的轮廓上达成共识，或者如何整合不同的领域以走向可行的应用，或者如何加强研究知识的传播或创新，所有这些都是他们产出的基础，对于理解他们对政策目标和目的的贡献至关重要。我们寻求通过一种混合方法来推进研究中心影响和结果的评估，这种方法将中心活动的文献计量学、统计学、定量特征与深入的定性分析联系起来。该方法将是一种解释性顺序设计，旨在通过深入、集中的定性研究来加强对定性研究结果的解释。出发点将是关于产出和结果的定量信息，这些信息来自对中心活动的外向跟踪、以前的报告和NNI项目的评估、2001财年至2009财年的可用NNI数据，以及来自多个出版物和专利数据库中已发表记录的跨学科和知识整合指标。目前的纳米研发需要从基础研究到商业创新的各个阶段。因此，在NNI战略计划中，跨部门（学术-政府-行业“三螺旋”）的互动是重要的，也是有意为之。整合纳米专业的研究知识是至关重要的，我们同时关注纳米与生物、认知和信息科学的融合。中心寻求促进智力和社会因素的整合，以刺激知识的产生，并通过实施新的知识生产模式来转化NNI的发生。在这个项目中，我们解决了在这个新领域对其成果和影响进行量身定制的评估设计的迫切需要。注：本项目不包括亚利桑那州立大学纳米技术与社会中心，也不包括任何涉及社会影响的NSEC。

Nanoscience and nanengineering ("nano") R&D is extraordinarily active and diverse and much of it conducted in the context of research centers. These are designed to facilitate effective research knowledge transfer which in turn depends on understanding mechanisms that facilitate cross-disciplinary networking and the integration of diverse fields of knowledge relevant to application. Research centers constitute a key strategy in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)to pool resources, facilitate interdisciplinary research and enable links with industry to accelerate technology transfer and industry applications of nanotechnology results (NSET 2007). Research centers play a role in acheiving all four goals of hte NNI strategic plan.Need for Rapid: The stage in the program, with the NNI approaching a decade of existence, makes it extremely important to understand whether the vision for the field is unfolding as planned. Specifically, we need to know the ways in which research centers shape the direction of hte field both thematically, with other scientific and technological results, amnd materially, with their conditributions to education and infrastructure. In other words, how have you research centers actually performed the role assigned to them in the NNI and what has their contribution to the current state of affairs in nano been? The timing and criticality of the assessment information provide grounds for this RAPID proposal and also point to the broader impacts of this project. The project will focus only on the 15 NSECs that have had a long enough cycle of funding to show impacts and will not make specific recommendations related to funding individual centers. It will address the programmatic level for future center solicitations.Intellectual Merit: Nano centers have produced outputs and outcomes over the period of their existence in the frame of the NNI, such as papers, reports, collaborations with other research teams and with industry, patents, citations, which have been tracked quantitatively. However, nano studies have not produced consensus on the mechanisms and profiles of centers in fostering interdisciplinarity, or how to integrate diverse fields needed to move toward viable applications, or how to bolster research knowledge diffusion or innovation, all of which underlie their outputs and are critical in understanding their contribution to the goals and objectives of the policy. We seek to advance the assessment of research centers' impacts and outcomes through a mixed methods approach that will connect the bibliometric, statistical, quantitative characterization of center activity with an in-depth, qualitative analysis. The approach will be an explanatory sequential design that seeks to enhance the interpretation of the results of a qualitative study with in-depth, focused qualitative research.The point of departure will be the quantitative information on outputs and outcomes available from outgoing tracking of center activity, previous reports and evaluations of NNI programs, NNI data from FY2001 to FY2009, as available, and indicators of interdisciplinarity and integration of knowledge derived from the published record available in multiple publication and patent databases. Current nano R&D entails all stages form fundamental research through commerical innovation. Consequently, cross-sector (academic-government-industry "triple helix") interactions are important and intended by design in the NNI strategic plan. Integration of research knowlege across nano specialties is vital, and we simultaneously attend to convergence of nano with bio, cognitive, and information sciences. Centers seek to facilitate integration of both intellectual and social elements to spur knowledge generation and translate NNI happen through their implementation of the new mode of knowledge production. In this project, we address the critical need for a tailored design of the assessment of their outcomes and impacts in this new field. NOTE: This project does not include the ASU Center for Nanotechnology and Society nor any NSEC addressing societal implications.