Pilot Study to Accelerate Engineering Research Center Preparedness

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The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has challenged the engineering research community to embrace and advance new approaches that not only enable technological innovation but result in broad benefits to human well-being and social prosperity. Collaborative, transdisciplinary, and convergence research within the context of Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) is thought to provide a particularly promising opportunity for research engineers to meet this challenge. This pilot project hypothesizes that the engineering research community will benefit from activities to better position and prepare them to meet the NAS challenge and propose innovative transdisciplinary ERCs that are likely to have major societal benefits. With a focus on a wide array of best practices in transdisciplinary and convergence research, this project will prepare research engineers to better identify and solve difficult issues, while also helping NSF fulfill its new vision for the next generation of ERCs. This project will similarly encourage ERCs to integrate diverse stakeholder perspectives and needs into research, and thus facilitate improved problem-solving and increased involvement of traditionally underrepresented groups in science. Therefore, the pilot project has the potential to produce benefits within the engineering research community and for society at large.Drawing on lessons learned by leaders at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and those learned from other complex transdisciplinary efforts, this pilot project will: (1) conduct an interactive workshop with leading members of the engineering research community; (2) determine if participating in the workshop is associated with enhanced understandings of four key topics identified as engineering priorities. The topics include effective methods for stakeholder engagement; convergence as a driving approach for innovative engineering research to solve societal problems; effective transdisciplinary team-based research processes; and, reflective and adaptive center designs that foster convergent research and societal impact. To asses understanding, participant surveys will be administered prior to and following the workshop. The results will be considered preliminary and will be used to inform potential future studies on how to build capacities in research communities to conduct transdisciplinary, convergence research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.