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Structure and Dynamics of the Scientific Ecosystem

PI: Daniel Larremore, University of Colorado

Year selected for award: 2018

Mapping the Structure and Dynamics of the Scientific Ecosystem

Principal Investigator: Daniel Larremore, University of Colorado Boulder

Co-Investigators: Aaron Clauset, University of Colorado Boulder; Mirta Galesic, Santa Fe Institute, and Jennifer Dunne, Santa Fe Institute

Years of Award: 2019-2022

Managing Service Agency: Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Project Description:

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.