6/18/08 meeting - recap of UTES project with NSF officers

Craig Forster invited me to a meeting with NSF program officers Anne-Marie Schmoltner and Rich Behnke who were seeking follow up on NSF-funding on the UTES project. Team members presented their findings and their subsequent work with Synergy funding for the urban systems EHBE initiative. NSF was particularly interested in the interdisciplinarity aspect of the work and much of the discussion addressed this issue.

Anne-Marie Schmoltner started off with the question - does NSF drive interdisciplinarity or do universities and researchers?

Presenters included:
Dave Richerson – K-12 Education outreach
Eric Pardyjak – Airshed Dynamics
Steve Burian – Urban Hydrology
Beth Dudley-Murphy – Remote sensing mapping and interpretation of urban land use and vegetation
Craig Forster – water/energy use, urban system model, interdisciplinary team dynamics
Carol Werner – Community engagement, public transit behavior
Phil Emmi – modeling urban sprawl-feedback processes

Eric Pardyjak of Mechanical Engineering was particularly positive about his experience with the interdiciplinarity of the project, and pointed out that he felt supported by his department and acheived tenure even though his work would be considered outside the "traditional" boundaries of his field. The NSF-supported work that he did with the UTES project in fact changed his career course, putting him in contact with colleagues that he would not have expected. He feels that the sort of problems that engineers face are naturals for interdisciplinary work, and is positive that campus sustainability studies initiatives can serve as a catalyst for this type of thinking.

I spoke briefly about the Office for Interdisciplinary Studies and the role of the AVP.

Craig Forster presented on interdisciplinary research team dynamics drawing on Jessica Thompson's graduate work (a former student of Tarla Rae Peterson), pointing out that the dynamics which tended to stabalize and promote effective work included institutional support, a competent facilitator, and successful proposals that brought in new money.

The NSF officers were very impressed and put forth the possibility of members of the team presenting their experiences with interdisciplinary research team dynamics to a wider NSF audience in DC.