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

十五个纳米科学与工程中心的评估？

• 批准号: 0955089
• 负责人: Juan Rogers
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-10-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0955089&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assessment; Fifteen; Nanotechnology; Science; Engineering

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.

纳米科学和纳米工程（“纳米”）研发非常活跃和多样化，其中大部分是在研究中心进行的。 这些旨在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整合的机制。 研究中心构成了国家纳米技术倡议（NNI）的一个关键战略，以汇集资源，促进跨学科研究，并与工业界建立联系，以加速技术转让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重要作用。快速需求：随着NNI接近十年的存在，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。 具体地说，我们需要知道研究中心是如何在主题上和其他科技成果一起，以及在物质上和它们对教育和基础设施的贡献一起塑造这个领域的方向的。 换句话说，你们的研究中心实际上是如何履行NNI分配给他们的角色的，他们对纳米领域的现状有什么贡献？ 评估信息的时间和重要性为快速发展方案的建议提供了依据，也表明了该项目的广泛影响。 该项目将只关注15个国家安全理事会，这些国家安全理事会的供资周期足够长，足以显示其影响，而不会就个别中心的供资提出具体建议。 知识产权：在NNI的框架内，纳米中心在其存在期间产生了产出和成果，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，纳米研究还没有产生共识的机制和配置文件的中心，在促进跨学科，或如何整合不同的领域需要走向可行的应用程序，或如何加强研究知识的传播或创新，所有这些都是他们的输出，并在理解他们的贡献的目标和目标的政策。 我们寻求通过一种混合方法来推进对研究中心影响和成果的评估，这种方法将中心活动的文献计量学，统计学和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、集中的定性研究来增强对定性研究结果的解释。出发点将是关于输出和结果的定量信息，这些信息来自对中心活动的外发跟踪、对NNI项目的既往报告和评估、2001财年至2009财年的NNI数据（如可用），以及跨学科性和知识整合的指标，这些指标来自多个出版物和专利数据库中的已出版记录。 目前的纳米研发包括从基础研究到化学创新的所有阶段。 因此，跨部门（学术-政府-行业“三重螺旋”）的互动是重要的，并在NNI战略计划的设计意图。 跨纳米专业的研究知识的整合是至关重要的，我们同时参加纳米与生物，认知和信息科学的融合。 中心寻求促进知识和社会元素的整合，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。在这个项目中，我们解决了在这个新领域的成果和影响的评估量身定制的设计的迫切需要。 注：本项目不包括亚利桑那州立大学纳米技术与社会中心，也不包括任何解决社会影响的NSEC。