EAGER Germination Renewal: Piloting a Center for Transformative Research at Boise State University

该项目通过在博伊西州立大学建立一个变革性研究中心，解决了培养变革性研究思想的关键需求，这些思想可以有效地解决社会需求。该项目建立在试点奖励的基础上，该团队初步证明了建立自信社区的能力-协调利益相关者和结构以实现风险承担。该中心将有三个主要组成部分：为研究活跃的教师和博士后提供专业发展；大学结构的一致性，以支持变革性研究问题和想法的萌发；并对参与者进行纵向跟踪，以衡量该中心的长期影响。这个转型研究中心的成功发展可能会产生几个重要影响。它不仅可能导致新的研究项目的发展，以解决具有社会意义的研究问题，而且还可能为其他新兴的研究活跃的大学提供一个模式。博伊西州立大学将测试一个可扩展的平台，以协助教师和博士后提出变革性研究问题，并让学生参与研究。该中心将在结构和文化上都位于创新与设计学院内，并将与研究和经济发展部保持密切联系。在资助期内，项目导师将透过务静会及工作坊，为参加者提供重点的专业发展，提升他们的研究身分、提出变革性的研究问题及推进研究议程的能力。另一个平行的目标是重新设想大学结构，以支持参与者进行变革性研究的可能性。必要的对话将包括关于晋升和任期政策的讨论，以及奖励高风险项目和团队科学的机制。博伊西州立大学可以被认为是新兴研究活跃的美国大学的代表-高等教育的中产阶级。拟议的方法可以扩展和转移到类似的机构。博伊西州立大学参加了由24个国家和国际机构组成的垂直综合项目联盟，这为传播提供了一条可能容易处理的途径。

This project addresses the critical need to foster transformative research ideas that can effectively address societal needs by developing a Center for Transformative Research at Boise State University. The project builds on a pilot award in which this team demonstrated preliminary proof-of-principle of the ability to build an ASSERTive community - Aligning Stakeholders and Structures to Enable Risk Taking. The proposed Center will have three major components: professional development for research-active faculty and post-doctoral fellows; alignment of university structures to support germination of transformative research questions and ideas; and longitudinal tracking of participants to measure the long-term impact of the Center. Successful development of this Center for Transformative Research could have several important impacts. Not only might it lead to development of new research programs that grapple with societally significant research problems, but it could also serve as a model for other emerging research-active universities.In piloting a Center for Transformative Research, Boise State University will test a scalable platform for assisting faculty and post-doctoral fellows to pose transformative research questions, and engage students in research. The Center will reside structurally and culturally within the College of Innovation + Design, and will have strong ties to the Division of Research and Economic Development. During the grant period, the PIs will provide focused professional development for participants through retreats and workshops, enhancing their ability to develop their research identity, formulate transformative research questions, and advance their research agenda. A parallel goal is to re-imagine university structures to support the possibility of transformative research among the participants. Necessary conversations will include discussions of promotion and tenure policies, and mechanisms for rewarding high-risk projects and team science. Boise State can be considered representative of emerging research-active US universities - the middle class of higher education. The proposed approach could be scalable and transferable to similar institutions. Boise State's participation in the Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) Consortium, comprised of 24 national and international institutions, offers a potentially tractable route for dissemination.