Supporting Successful Design and Management of Research Centers

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Increasingly science and engineering research occurs in large-scale, distributed, interdisciplinary, cyber-enabled teams engaging challenges that are too large and complex to be addressed by a single investigator. The research will improve our understanding of the management practices being used by this novel form of scientific exploration and whether these practices are consistent with those recommended by existing research on organizational design, project and process management, software development and the social studies of science. The study includes in-depth interviews yielding a detailed description of a wide range of cyberscience and engineering centers, a workshop to integrate empirical findings with current managerial practice, a survey to validate the interview findings and assess needs, and a set of guidelines and support materials for current and future center managers, program officers, and reviewers of these endeavors. This project studies how large scale cyber-enabled science and engineering centers can be successfully designed and managed. Where current practices could be better, this project will develop guidelines and materials to support their improvement. Investigating cyberscience and engineering design and management practices and developing materials for their improvement is a crucial step in learning how to build and nurture the research centers that will be central to future advances in science and engineering. Identifying the best practices for large-scale centers could potentially transform cyber-enabled grand challenge communities, radically improve their success, and guide future development of appropriate cyberinfrastructure tools. This is an important topic of national concern in areas such as global healthcare, disaster response and climate change. In addition, cyberinfrastructure can enable participants from under-represented groups and minority institutions to join scientific and engineering teams.