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Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Lab

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The Science, Technology and Environment Policy Lab (STEP)

The Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago serves as a focal point for interaction among faculty, graduate students, scientists, and practitioners on public policy and management issues in these areas that have societal implications. Housed in the Department of Public Administration, the Research group helps support a Ph.D. program in Science and Technology through funded projects that enable the education and training of a new generation of social scientists who recognize the growing importance of these issues in society. The faculty involved in research at the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Lab are Dr. Eric Welch, Associate Professor, Megan Haller, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Mary Feeney, Assistant Professor of Public Administration.

S&T Networks

Science and the flow of scientific knowledge occur within a set of networks among scientists and institutions. Researchers often collaborate with colleagues who are disciplinariliy diverse and may work in other sectors or countries. Knowledege produced during the process of scientific discovery is often dispersed widely, but has traditionally been captured using bibliometric analysis of publication and citation data. That research has done much to improve the understanding about the characteristics of science networks and the conduct of science.

More recently, the adpatation of social network methods has been effectively used at the micro-level, in the evaluation of center-based research, as well as in exploring the collaborative ties that link individuals and groups of individuals. While network data drawn from social network methods can be useful to delineate fields of research, individual-level data drawn from surveys can capture activity and knowledge exchange that precede tangible collaboration outputs such as publications and grants.

The STE Policy Lab conducts network based evaluations of NSF Centers and also applies network analysis to research on the development and evolution of scientific networks and the contributions that network dynamics have on science outcomes and on scientists careers.

 

Recent Activity

 

Networks of Women in Science Julia Melkers and Eric Welch have been awarded $1.2 million for the National Science Foundation to study the role of social and research networks for women in science and engineering. The three year study uses a national survey, interviews, publications and other institutional data to study the formation, characteristics and network participation in the fields of biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and atomospheric sociences, electrical engineering and physics. Please see the project website for more information.

The 2008 annual report for the project can be found here

 

AAAS Conference 2008 In February 2008, Dr. Melkers and Dr. Welch presented a paper on "The Role of Social Networks for Women in Science and Engineering.”. The findings from Networks of Women and Science Project addressed the issue of differences in network access for academic scientists and engineers.Findings indicate that while men’s and women’s networks provide similar levels of invitations and nominations, women are less likely than men to be introduced to collaborators by individuals in their academic research networks

 

Patenting Behavior of Academic Scientists and Engineers In February 2008, the National Science Foundation awarded $170,000 to Associate Professor Eric Welch and STEP affiliated Professor Branco Ponomariov to study the patent behavior of engineers and scientists. The project titled "Patenting Behavior of Academic Scientists and Engineers: A Micro-level Analysis of the Factors that Determine the Production of University Patents" is a 2 year study which 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.

 

Gordon Research Conference on Governing Emerging Technologies August, 2008 In August 2008, Dr. Welch and Dr. Feeney presented a paper on "Institutions and Emerging Technologies: The Role of Research Universities in the Governance of Emerging Science & Technology". The paper develops the first empirically tested university-centric institutional model of the role of environment, universities, and individual determinants in shaping the pursuit of emerging science and technology. Findings reveal that University capacity, effort, visibility and management capacity, together explain approximately 0.12% of the variance in the likelihood that an individual will receive grant funding either in nano science and technology or other cutting edge research areas. Compared to university level variables, Individual level factors such as prior research funding, publication track record, field, perception of pressure to conduct interdisciplinary research, and prior awards significantly increase the likelihood that an individual reports having received funding for nano related science.  Women were slightly less likely to have reported receiving a nano related funding.

 

Atlanta Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2007 In October 2007, Dr. Welch and Megan Haller presented a paper on “Rethinking Collaborative Entrepreneurship: The Impact of Networks and Entrepreneurial Cognitions on Grant Acquisition in Science and Technology". The paper develops and tests a model of the moderating impact of social structure and cognitions on grant getting behavior.  Findings suggest that social networks and certain decision-making heuristics matter for the quantity and success rate of grant getting behavior among academic scientists in six science and engineering fields. Second, the effects of networks and these heuristics vary based on the degree of collaboration required. Finally, the effects are different for the propensity to pursue grant opportunities than the success rate of these pursuits.

 

Panel on Modernizing the Infrastructure of the NSF Federal Funds for R&D SurveyAssistant Professor Mary K. Feeney has been invited by the Committee on National Statistics of the National Research Council to serve on the Panel on Modernizing the Infrastructure of the NSF Federal Funds for R&D Survey. This expert panel will review the fields of science classification structure underlying the National Science Foundation’s Division of Science Resources Statistics (SRS) Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development and recommend future directions for the program based on an assessment of its uses.  This panel will draw on two previous NRC studies, Measuring the Science and Engineering Enterprise: Priorities for the Division of Science Resource Studies (2000), and Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U.S. Economy (2004). 

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