What is CDR? – A Few Examples

Water Resources in a Changing Climate – Idaho Climate Change

Large CD consortia — not the case that everyone works on everything

Comprise individual teams engaged in different kinds of CDR with no overall integration

What is CDR? – A Few Examples

UI/CATIE IGERT Team

Focused CDR effort

A particular team working on projects that are integrating (i.e., yield unified, synthetic solutions)

What is CDR? – A Few Examples

USGS Water Quality Survey

Specific, multi-disciplinary team

No integration of component research other than at publication level

What is CDR? – A Few Examples

Entomologist Reading Philosophy

One individual—no team

Synthesis at individual level

‘CDR’ Analyzed

‘CDR’ defined: research involving the participation of more than one discipline

It concerns inquiry (research), as opposed to transmission (teaching)

It concerns disciplines

‘Discipline’ Analyzed

‘Discipline’ defined: an intrinsically constituted set of practices that is sufficiently widespread and stable to receive institutional support

Set of practices includes methods and principles

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic modes of classification

They are, roughly, epistemic communities

Examining CDR

Theoretical– There is a need to understand CDR along various

dimensionsParticipation: Individual ↔ Collaborative (Frodeman, et al.

2010)Disciplinary Breadth: Narrow ↔ Wide (Stokols, et al. 2003)Integration Level: Multi- ↔ Trans- (Eigenbrode, et al. 2007)

– How should differences along these dimensions be modeled?

– What are the processes necessary to the successful conduct of CDR?

Examining CDR

Theoretical– The integration dimension is key here

Integration is “widely regarded as the primary methodology of interdisciplinarity” (Klein 2011)

Integration is a “making whole” of different disciplinary elements (e.g., languages, concepts, models, methods, frameworks) that involves collective, iterative explanation and problem solving

This is the hallmark of interdisciplinarity

Examining CDR

Applied– How can CDR efforts be developed?– How can they be facilitated?– What problems undermine CDR efforts, and how

can these be avoided?– What impact will new technology have on the

conduct of CDR (e.g., new cybercollaborative tools, enhanced capacity for data storage, access, manipulation, and synthesis)?

Motivation – Drivers

“Interdisciplinary thinking is rapidly becoming an integral feature of research as a result of four powerful ‘drivers’:

Motivation – Drivers

The inherent complexity of nature and society

The desire to explore problems and questions that are not confined to a single discipline

Motivation – Drivers

The need to solve societal problems

The power of new technologies.”

– Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, NAS, p. 40

Motivation – Responses

Universities and Colleges– Interdisciplinary curricula– Structures to encourage collaboration among

investigatorsFederal and State Agencies

– Funding opportunities– Internal structures

Private InstitutionsIndustry

Motivation – Responses

NSF IGERT – Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship – Educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers by building on the foundations of their disciplinary knowledge with interdisciplinary training

Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) – E.g., Science and Technology Centers – Conduct research at the intersection of multiple disciplines and foster transformative science and excellence in education

Motivation – Responses

NASA is looking to improve and advance cross-disciplinary activities, especially as the nation looks to global change impacts and adaptation

USDA - National Institute for Food and Agriculture new funding strategy emphasizes large scale, coordinated, cross-disciplinary projects

2006 saw the creation of the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting, trans-NIH programs. These include Global Health, Health Economics, Nanomedicine, and Interdisciplinary Research, which focuses on changing the “academic research culture” both within and without NIH.

Motivation – Challenges

The challenges to CDR are manifold:– The academic reward system (NAS 2005)– Lack of conducive institutional culture (Klein 2010)– Lack of training opportunities (Rosa and Machlis

2002)– Disciplinary chauvinism (Schoenberger 2001) – Turfism (Morse, et al. 2007)– Group dynamics (Jakobsen, et al. 2004)– Communication (Crowley et al. 2010)