What Do We Mean by Research Now? Creating Culturally Attuned Teams for Wicked Challenges
The very acronym STEM assumes that when scientists try to solve complex problems, they work in teams. Only recently, however, have those teams stretched to include artists, humanities scholars, and social scientists. These expansive teams often work with facilitators grounded in the psychology of relationship-building and the recognition that the success of technical solutions is deeply entangled with community beliefs and practices.
In this session, we'll hear from two “use-inspired” research groups—one focused on water quality issues and the other on social media algorithms and extremism. Both start from the premise that technological solutions require cultural critique and that scholars who study culture might benefit from balancing critique with problem-solving. Members of the two teams will reflect on strategies for creating new kinds of cross-disciplinary teams and the need to adapt metrics and approaches to evaluation in order to acknowledge the complexity of radical interdisciplinarity.
Panelists:
- David Cwiertny, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination; Director, Environmental Policy Research Program, Public Policy Center, University of Iowa
- Brian Ekdale, Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Iowa
- Raven Maragh-Lloyd, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Film and Media Studies, Washington University (St. Louis)
- Rishab Nithyanand, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Iowa
- Maya Trotz, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida
This virtual event is free and open to all, but registration is required.
About the "What Do We Mean By Research Now?" series:
For many faculty members in the last decade the forms of artistic practice, scholarship, and research have undergone a sea change. Empirical methodologists in the social sciences engage with ethnographers. Artists take deep archival dives to prepare for plays and paintings. Engineers collaborate with anthropologists and English professors. Humanities scholars and technologists form international ArcGIS teams. Yet as the Mellon-funded Humane Metrics Initiative in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the American Council of Learned Societies, and other professional organizations frequently point out, our systems of evaluation have not kept pace with these new methodologies and forms. This year, the Obermann Center is hosting a series of conversations across the disciplines to highlight the many experimental, cutting edge, even controversial creations, discoveries, interpretive work, empirical studies, STEM experiments, publicly engaged and interdisciplinary projects that ask us to expand our understanding of research and what it means to be a research university. All discussions will be virtual, free, and open to the public. View previous discussions.