The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions: Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Research
(V Narayanamurti and JY Tsao) (SAND2020-14278 B)
Research is a deeply human endeavor that must be nurtured to achieve its full potential. As with tending a garden, care must be taken to organize, plant, feed, and weed—and the manner in which this nurturing is done must be consistent with the nature of what is being nurtured. In this book, The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions, published by Harvard University Press, Venky and I propose a new and holistic system, a rethinking of the nature and nurturing of research. We share lessons from our research experience in the physical sciences and engineering, as well as from perspectives drawn from the history and philosophy of science and technology, research policy and management, and the evolutionary biological, complexity, physical, and economic sciences.
Coupling Science and Technology: Encourage but don’t Force
(JY Tsao and V Narayanamurti) (SAND2017-12042 J)
We argue in this New Atlantis article that technological usefulness should not always be the criterion for choosing a particular object for scientific study. The forced coupling between science and technology that such a criterion represents can be counterproductive (as of course can be a forced separation between science and technology).
Creativity in Scientific and Engineering Research
(JY Tsao) (SAND2019-15148 PE)
Talk (with notes) given at DOE/EERE/BTO (Building Technologies Office) on January 9, 2020. The talk builds on recent work on creative outcome after a piece of research has been done, applying it to anticipatory creative outcome before the research has been done.
Creative Outcome as Implausible Utility
(JY Tsao, CL Ting, CM Johnson) (SAND2019-5800 J) (Rev Gen Psych 23(3) 279-292, 2019)
Paper builds on the work of Dean Simonton to develop a definition for creative outcome (especially in scientific and technological research) as useful learning and implausible utility.
Nurturing Transformative U.S. Energy Research: Two Guiding Principles
(V Narayanamurti and JY Tsao) (SAND2018-1548 J) (MRS Energy & Sustainability doi:10.1557/mre.2018.9, 2018)
Paper raises for debate and discussion the growing mis-control and mis-protection of U.S. energy research. This flawed approach originates in natural human tendencies exacerbated by an historical misunderstanding of research and development, science and technology, and the relationships between them. We outline the origin of the mis-control and mis-protection, and propose two guiding principles to mitigate them and instead nurture research: (i) focus on people, not projects; and (ii) culturally insulate research from development, but not science from technology.
Commentary: The social science of creativity and research practice: Physical scientists, take notice
(T Odumosu, JY Tsao, V Narayanamurti, Physics Today 68, 8-9 (2015) SAND2016-0135 C).
Commentary builds on the work of Dean Simonton to develop a definition for creative outcome (especially in scientific and technological research) as useful learning and implausible utility.
(SAND2017-7430 O)
(G.E. Avina, C.D. Schunn, A.R. Silva, T.L. Bauer, G.W. Crabtree, C.M. Johnson, T. Odumosu, S.T. Picraux, R.K. Sawyer, R.P. Schneider, R. Sun, G.J. Feist, V. Narayanamurti, J.Y. Tsao; Chapter 14 in E. Subrahmanian, T. Odumosu, J.Y. Tsao, Eds., Engineering a Better Future (Springer, 2018, SAND2018-10125 B)
Book chapter summarizing the conclusions of a Forum and Roundtable, held at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, June 5-7,2013, initiating a dialog between the two communities: distinguished practitioners of the art of research and experts in the emerging science of research. The Forum and Roundtable had a dual focus: to identify science that can be applied to improving how research is done and to identify ways in which Sandia could apply such to its own processes.
(Jeff Tsao)
Talk given at Complex 2012 (Santa Fe, 2012) (SAND 2012-10354C).
This talk discussed how the system of science is a complex adaptive system and how it might be analyzable within a framework of a co-evolving dual network of people and ideas.
A Case for Sandia Investment in Complex Adaptive Systems Science and Technology
(Curtis M. Johnson, George A. Backus, Theresa J. Brown, Richard Colbaugh, Katherine A. Jones, Jeffrey Y. Tsao) (SAND 2011-9347P and SAND 2012-3320) (October 2011)
This white paper made the case for Sandia National Laboratories investments in complex adaptive systems science and technology (S&T) — investments that could enable higher-value-added and more-robustly-engineered solutions to challenges of importance to Sandia’s national security mission and to the nation.
A Brief History of Sandia National Laboratories and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science
Interplay between Science, Technology, and Mission
(Jeff Tsao, Jerry Simmons, Sam Collis, Andy McIlroy, Sam Myers, Tom Picraux, Fred Vook) (SAND 2011-5462) (October 2011)
This report reviews the history of Sandia’s fundamental science programs supported by the Office of Science.
Kuhn, Galileo, Casimir: Insights into the relationship between Science and Technology
(Jeff Tsao) (SAND 2013-7804 P) (June 2011)
This presentation was given at a strategic planning discussion meeting at Sandia, and discussed bi-translational S&T, something that might be called a virtuous “Casimir’s Spiral,” in which science leads to new technology, while technology leads to new science.
Galileo’s Stream: A Framework for Understanding Knowledge Production
(Jeff Tsao, Kevin Boyack, Mike Coltrin, Jessica Turnley, Wil Gauster) (SAND 2006-7622J) (Research Policy 37, 330-352) (March 2008)
This paper introduced a new framework for understanding knowledge production in which: knowledge is produced in stages (along a research to development continuum) and in three discrete categories (science and understanding, tools and technology, and societal use and behavior); and knowledge in the various stages and categories is produced both non-interactively and interactively.
Consumer Preferences and Funding Priorities in Scientific Research
(Jeff Tsao) (Science and Public Policy 16, 294-298) (October 1989)
This paper discussed the possibilities for a de-centralized market-oriented system for funding scientific research, in which researchers receive a form of royalty for the use of their published papers.