NRT-FW-HTF-HDR: PLATFORMS FOR EXCHANGE AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (PEAR)

经济的日益数字化，以及打车应用和能源交易平台等数字平台的增长，极大地改变了个人、组织和政府交换和分配资源的方式。到2025年，预计每年将有超过60万亿美元（约占世界收入的30%）通过数字平台进行中介。这些平台颠覆了多个行业，颠覆了劳动经济学和劳动实践，从根本上改变了资源管理、资产配置和市场设计。虽然数字平台使服务和产品的提供和获取民主化，且进入成本和交易成本较低，但对社会的更大影响尚未完全了解。至关重要的是，新平台技术的开发人员不能再简单地接受工程师和计算机科学家的培训，政策制定者和监管机构必须了解数字平台周围的生态系统。这项授予东北大学、休斯顿大学和汉普顿大学（其中三所大学中有两所是少数族裔院校）的国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖，名为“资源交流和分配平台”（PEAR），将开发融合的跨学科培训，为学生提供(1)整合商业中适用的研究成果和理论的能力；将政策和社会科学转化为伦理工程设计和实践，反之亦然，(2)在尚未受到监管的新兴和动态工作环境中取得成功的能力，以及(3)对技术创新如何为不同利益相关者创造价值并影响整个社会的理解。该项目预计将培养80多名硕士和博士研究生，其中包括22名有津贴的研究员，他们来自东北大学（NU）或休斯顿大学（UH）的一系列博士项目，汉普顿大学（HU）的一个新的工程创业硕士学位（该大学的第一个工程研究生学位）或西北大学或休斯敦大学的两个新研究生证书项目之一。PEAR培训模式以教学、指导和学习方面的循证最佳实践为指导，重点是跨学科学习和弱势群体参与的最佳实践。通过精心策划的课程和经验，结构化的指导和专业发展，以及利益相关者共同设计的研究机会，PEAR研究员将接受培训，了解并为数字平台的未来做出贡献，以及它们对社会经济机会公平分配，可持续消费，公平获取商品和服务，道德知情的技术设计以及重塑劳动和商业实践的影响。这些专业人士将准备好定义并为人类技术前沿的未来工作做出贡献，并在能源、卫生、交通、物流、住房、计算、政策等多个领域利用数据革命（NSF的两个大创意）。PEAR项目结合了两所院校的优势：纽大在体验式学习方面的领先优势，汉普顿在工程创业和教学方面的优势，以及纽大在能源领域的工程合作伙伴关系，共同开发三个新的研究生项目。正式的外部评估将记录结果，为数字平台等融合研究领域的研究生教育有效模式的知识体系做出贡献。美国国家科学基金会研究实习生（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的STEM研究生教育培训新模式。该项目致力于通过创新、循证、适应不断变化的劳动力和研究需求的综合培训模式，在高优先级跨学科或融合研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The increasing digitization of the economy and resulting growth of digital platforms like ride-hailing apps and energy trading platforms have dramatically altered how individuals, organizations and governments exchange and allocate resources. By 2025 it is estimated over $60 trillion per year (~30 percent of world revenue) will be mediated by digital platforms. These platforms have disrupted multiple industries, upended labor economics and practices, and fundamentally transformed resource management, asset allocation and market design. While digital platforms have democratized provision and access to services and products with low entry and transaction costs, the larger impact on society is not fully understood. It is critical that the developers of new platform technologies no longer simply be trained as engineers and computer scientists, and that policy makers and regulators must understand the ecosystems around digital platforms. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Northeastern University, University of Houston, and Hampton University (two of three of which are minority-serving institutions), entitled Platforms for Exchange and Allocation of Resources (PEAR), will develop convergent, transdisciplinary training providing students with (1) the capacity to integrate applicable findings and theories in business, policy and social science into ethical engineering design and practice and vice versa, (2) the ability to succeed in emerging and dynamic work environments that are yet to be regulated, and (3) the understanding of how technological innovations create value for different stakeholders and impact society at large. This project anticipates training 80+ MS and PhD students, including 22 stipended fellows, from a range of doctoral programs at Northeastern University (NU) or University of Houston (UH), a new Master’s in Engineering Entrepreneurship at Hampton University (HU) – the university’s first engineering graduate degree – or one of the two new graduate certificate programs at NU or UH. The PEAR training model is guided by evidence-based best practices in teaching, mentoring and learning, with an emphasis on best practices for interdisciplinary learning and engagement of underrepresented populations. Through carefully curated coursework and experiences, structured mentoring and professional development, and stakeholder co-designed research opportunities, PEAR Fellows will be trained to understand and contribute to the future of digital platforms and their impact on equitable distribution of economic opportunities in society, sustainable consumption, fair access to goods and services, ethically informed technology design, and the re-shaping of labor and business practices. These professionals will be ready to define and contribute to the future of work at the human technology frontier and to harness the data revolution (two NSF Big Ideas) in multiple sectors such as energy, health, transportation, logistics, housing, computing, policy, and beyond. PEAR is a collaboration that combines each institution’s strengths: NU’s leadership in experiential learning, Hampton’s in engineering entrepreneurship and teaching, and UH’s engineering partnerships particularly in the energy sector – to develop three new graduate programs. Formal external evaluation will document outcomes to contribute to the body of knowledge on effective models for graduate education in convergent research areas such as digital platforms.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.