The STE Lab is currently conducting research on three NSF funded studies. Two of the studies examine the role that social and professional networks play in the career success and satisfaction of women and under-represented minorities in academic science and engineering. Additionally, the STE Lab is investigating the factors that contribute to decisions by academic scientists and engineers to disclose or patent inventions.
Patenting Behavior of Academic Scientists and Engineers: A Micro-level Analysis of the Factors that Determine the Production of University Patents
NSF Award Abstract #0750613
Research on university patenting has focused primarily on aggregate analyses of temporal changes in quantity and quality of university patents, their impact and utilization, and their distribution by class. Minimal systematic research has been conducted at the micro-level to investigate how individual researcher, organizational, and institutional factors explain patenting behavior of academic scientists.
This study funded by the Science and Society Program develops a theoretical model of the emergence of a university patent consisting of three decision stages, mediated by individual, disciplinary, and organizational constraints and the resulting motivation to undertake commercially relevant research leading to patents. The three decision stages are: 1) project selection related to patented invention; 2) invention disclosure; and 3) the post-disclosure involvement of inventors with the development of their inventions. Data for the study are generated through a national online survey to a random sample of university scientists who are listed as inventors of patents assigned to US universities between in 2006 and to a random sample of the inventors' colleagues who have not patented an invention. The survey electronically embeds patent data as a means of stimulating patent-specific responses. The results of the project improve knowledge about the complex patent decision context that exists in universities and identify specific contextual elements that encourage or constrain patenting activity. The characterization of the university patents in terms of common patterns of behaviors and activities contributes to future policy debates about whether and how to encourage patenting activities on university campuses.
Women in Science and Engineering: Network Access, Participation, and Career Outcomes
NSF Award Abstract #0529642
The project proposes a study that examines how social and professional networks mediate the conversion of women's qualifications to career outcomes and specifically addresses how and why do networks matter for women's career outcomes in science and engineering. The study proposes a two-phase approach: (1) conduct a baseline national survey of scientists and engineers in six STEP fields; (2) conduct a network analysis of "critical mentors" aimed at uncovering the networks that emerge around key faculty. The two-stage design will provide detailed multi-level quantitative data for statistically modeling and rich qualitative evidence that enhance the quantitative analysis.
For further information, please go to http://netwise.gatech.edu/
Breaking through the Reputational Ceiling: Professional Networks as a Determinant of Advancement, Mobility, and Career Outcomes for Women and Minorities in STEM
NSF Award Abstract #0910191
The proposal addresses the characteristics and role of networks in career advancement, outcomes, and mentoring for women and underrepresented minority academic scientists in non-Research I institutions. The questions driving the research concern the structural and resource determinants of underrepresentation, career success and satisfaction of women and underrepresented minorities PhDs who have faculty appointments in Research II and Comprehensive institutions.
The PIs propose to use OLS regression and structural equation modeling to answer research questions related to gender differences, relationships between network structure and outcomes, and the association of background characteristics on networks. The PIs will survey women and minority scientists in civil engineering, chemistry, physics and computer science. They will use event history analysis to study career trajectories from the curriculum vitae. To ensure limited bias, the PIs will compare characteristics of the respondents with the general population in terms of rank, gender, and field. Finally, another survey and interviews will target named mentees. The interviews will add an important qualitative dimension to the study.
The study addresses significant questions about how women and minorities at Research II and Comprehensive institutions access and use professional networks and to what effect. The PIs state that the project can inform education policy as it continues to seek new mechanisms to encourage and foster greater representation of women and minorities in STEM fields. The findings would provide a more nuanced assessment of the complex interactive environment that creates structures and provides resources that are critical to the career trajectory of minority STEM faculty.
For further information, please go to http://netwise.gatech.edu/