Twin-Win Research. Ben Shneiderman

       2.1.9 Develop Your Networking Skills

       2.2 Medium-sized, Middle-term Efforts

       2.2.1 Arrange a Speaker Series

       2.2.2 Make It Easy for Off-campus Guests to Visit

       2.2.3 Facilitate Meetings on Campus

       2.2.4 Seek Funding from Government Agencies

       2.2.5 Seek Funding from Philanthropic Foundations

       2.2.6 Sharpen Your Writing Skills

       2.2.7 Sharpen Your Speaking Skills

       2.2.8 Strengthen Your Campus’s Social Media Presence

       2.2.9 Generate Targeted Email Lists

       2.2.10 Create an Award for Research Communications

       2.2.11 Organize Research Fairs

       2.2.12 Promote Teamwork in Research Groups

       2.3 Bigger, Long-term Missions

       2.3.1 Include Team Projects in Courses

       2.3.2 Teach the Methods of Design Thinking

       2.3.3 Raise Twin-Win Issues at Conferences

       2.3.4 Collect Evidence of Twin-Win Payoff

       2.3.5 Learn about Alternate Ways to Assess the Impact of Your Work

       2.3.6 Change Hiring, Tenure, and Promotion Policies to Encourage and Recognize Teamwork

       2.3.7 Change Hiring, Tenure, and Promotion Policies to Encourage and Recognize Working with Business, Government, and NGO Partners

       2.3.8 Incorporate New Goals and Measures in Strategic Plans and Vision Statements

       2.3.9 Work with Your Campus’s Office of Technology Commercialization

       2.3.10 Expand Collaboration with Business

       2.3.11 Expand Collaboration with Civic Partners

       2.3.12 Spread Twin-Win Ideas in Professional Societies

       2.3.13 Encourage Research Programs that Combine Theory and Practice

       3 Conclusion

       Author Biography

      University of California at Irvine (March 2016)

      Preface

      This guidebook grew from years of discussions about an issue near to my heart: how to change the culture of college campuses in order to produce higher-impact research. Initially, those discussions led to a book, The New ABCs of Research: Achieving Breakthrough Collaborations (2016). Yet as I continued the conversation with colleagues and delivered more than 40 talks in the U.S., Canada, and the UK people kept asking me a question that I couldn’t fully answer: “How can I change my own campus?”

      So, I started preparing handouts. These one-pagers were meant for students, faculty, and academic leaders, like department chairs, institute directors, deans, and provosts. Memorable talks were at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation, where my one-page lists had a different set of items. This guidebook is a revised and combined version of those lists.

      My focus is especially on North American universities and institutions that I know best, but I hope readers will find ways to translate these ideas into their national research ecosystems. My campus photos, which show the diverse universities I’ve visited, are meant to help readers appreciate that the ideas in the book can be widely applied.

      The first edition of this book was a Kindle self-published book titled Rock the Research: Achieving the Twin Win of Theory Breakthroughs and Societal Benefits. Since my audiences have responded strongly to the Twin Win concept, I have made it the title for this second edition.

      Cornell University (May 2003).

      Acknowledgments

      I’m grateful for supportive comments from, and lively discussions with, a range of colleagues. These people include Dan Sarewitz (Arizona State University), Lorne Whitehead (the University of British Columbia), Camille Crittenden (the University of California-Berkeley), Sameer Popat (the University of Maryland), Mark Western (the University of Queensland), and Mike Ash (the Better World Institute). I’m particularly grateful to my wife, Jennifer Preece, and to the many colleagues at the University of Maryland who offered valuable insights and encouragement. Hearty thanks also go to Asheq Rahman of Elsevier, who worked closely with me to provide the remarkable evidence from their SCOPUS database in Section 1.7. Finally, the meetings of the Highly Integrative Basic and Responsive Research Alliance helped push my ideas forward, as did help from the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities.

      CHAPTER 1

      Thinking about Research

1.1 INTRODUCTION

      Research is great fun because innovation is exciting and discovery is a thrilling. But beyond the personal satisfaction, the goal of research is to improve the lives of people everywhere. Researchers have the opportunity to create astonishing innovations and make profound discoveries, which drive revolutionary advances in communication, healthcare, transportation, business, and government.

      But to become this kind of superstar researcher, you have to be more than just lucky; you have to develop the right strategies. These strategies range from choosing problems to finding excellent collaborators, from validating your ideas to pushing back against skepticism. Learning and applying these strategies will increase the probability that your innovations and discoveries will blossom into commercial successes and influential theories that bear fruit as major societal benefits

      Set your sights high! Your research could prevent cancer, cut energy consumption, or bolster cybersecurity. Your ideas could lead to highly cited papers, widely licensed patents, and successful business startups. It takes hard work, perseverance in the face of setbacks, polished social skills to push back against skepticism, and excellent presentation abilities to convey your success story.

      But remember—dangers abound. Your ideas may fail, they may be bested by competitors, or they may be ignored because you failed to present them well. You also run the risk that the transformative changes you trigger may be disruptive for many people, may damage the environment, and may be appropriated by criminals, terrorists, and oppressive leaders. Research is a high-stakes endeavor, so the best researchers gird themselves for all possibilities.

      Which is where this guidebook comes in. My goal is to help you redirect your research and to change your campus. If you can increase the impact of academic research, you and your colleagues can produce more potent innovations and more valuable discoveries.

      The paths I outline can be pursued by individual students or faculty, or teams in a bottom-up fashion. These paths can also be important for top-down implementation by academic leaders like department chairs, deans, and administrators, as well as vice presidents of research, provosts, and even presidents. These leaders are typically the ones who promote visionary agendas described in ambitious strategic plans. And they often work closely with off-campus partners in business, government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), journalism, and beyond.