Mapping the Structure and Dynamics of the Scientific Ecosystem
Abstract
What fraction of new tenure track assistant professors eventually get tenure? What fraction go on to make major discoveries? Despite their simplicity, such questions are currently unanswerable both because we lack a clear understanding of the fundamental dynamics of scientific discovery, and because there exists no source of comprehensive data on such details of scientific careers and the contributions of individual researchers. This project will accelerate our understanding of the fundamental social processes that shape who makes discoveries, when, and where. It will develop new mathematical models that explain the drivers of discovery. And, it will validate those models by assembling, for the first time, comprehensive data on the education, employment, productivity, and impact of individual scientists. Understanding the dynamics of scientific discovery requires a fundamental shift in perspective, one that moves past traditional frameworks like citation accumulation networks, which are fundamentally lagging indicators of the past’s most visible advances, and moves toward rigorous models of the generative engines of discovery: the scientists themselves. Through three complementary Aims, this project will develop a new understanding of the complex social and scientific ecosystem of scientists, and how its structure and dynamics shape measurable aspects of scientific discovery.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2022
- Source ID
- FA95501910329
Entities
People
- Daniel B. Larremore
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Regents of the University of Colorado
- United States Air Force