Scholar's Award: Developing Innovators and Expertise for Fostering Innovation

培养创新者和促进创新的专业知识目前，美国的一系列利益相关者正在投资数十亿美元建设创新中心和改革STEM教育。该项目调查了过去的创新理论家如何应对和构建挑战，这些挑战继续困扰着参与当前倡议的教育者、政策制定者和实践者。政府如何在全球经济中促进私人研发？研究人员如何才能不受学科专业的限制而接受创业培训？对商业化、企业家精神及其产品的关注在哪些方面改变了什么是有价值的知识，甚至可能缩小了什么是有价值的知识？如何使STEM的参与更加多样化，这种多样性是否会带来意想不到的发现，否则就不会发生？该项目追溯了20世纪60年代至80年代创新理论家对大学、企业研究中心和联邦机构的影响，以及对今天的影响。地方、区域和国家创新计划的扩散。PI将探讨这些理论家如何通过培养技术科学从业者的创造力、创业精神、跨学科和社会相关性来发展旨在提高STEM参与和表现的专业知识形式。研究结果将通过一本书、一个研究生研讨会和一个针对STEM研究生和政策制定者的研讨会来传播。

Developing Innovators and Expertise for Fostering InnovationCurrently, a range of U.S. stakeholders are investing billions of dollars collectively in the construction of innovation centers and the reform of STEM education. The project investigates how innovation theorists in the past wrestled with and framed the challenges that continue to vex educators, policymakers, and practitioners engaged in present initiatives. How can governments foster private research and development in a global economy? How can researchers be trained for entrepreneurial careers irrespective of disciplinary specialty? In what ways does a focus on commercialization, entrepreneurship, and its products alter, and potentially narrow, what counts as valuable knowledge? How can STEM participation be made more diverse, and will that diversity result in unforeseen discoveries that would not have occurred otherwise?This project traces the impact of innovation theorists on universities, corporate research centers, and federal agencies during the 1960s to the 1980s and on today?s proliferation of local, regional, and national innovation initiatives. The PI will explore how these theorists developed forms of expertise designed to improve STEM participation and performance by fostering creativity, entrepreneurialism, interdisciplinary, and social relevance in technoscientific practitioners. Findings will be disseminated via a book, a graduate student seminar, and a workshop directed at STEM graduate students and policymakers.