West's last report: : is there an optimal funding strategy for STEM research? / Bruce J. West.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

West, Bruce J., author.

Series:

Research Methodology and Data Analysis Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Army Research Office.

United States.

Federal aid to research--United States.

Federal aid to research.

Research grants--United States.

Research grants.

Research--Government policy--United States.

Research.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (174 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Nova Science Publishers, Inc., [2023]

Summary:

"This book addresses the concern expressed by Pentagon Leaders that government resources would be better spent if we restricted the support of research to the top universities to the exclusion of all others. Establishing the veracity of this assertion sounds like a straightforward task, but it is not, with the devil being in the details. In the present case the details reside in the inverse power law (IPL) statistics of the datasets used to construct the measures of research value associated with the three major funding strategies used by the Army Research Office (ARO) to support basic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research. The statistics of research value in terms of the number of papers published and citations made to those papers are both IPL distributions, which makes the construction and interpretation of viable measures of research quality problematic. Thus, most of the book is devoted to interpretations of the various measures entailed by IPL statistics, but not with the mathematical details, which are amply referenced. An in-depth study of the funding by ARO addressing this question was concluded prior to Dr. West's retirement from ARO in July of 2021. The major conclusion drawn from the study was that if the budget of the ARO single individual funding was cut in half and invested instead in block grants to top universities, the result would by a disproportionate loss of research value to ARO and to the U.S. Army. The book reviews the measures constructed on which this conclusion was reached and the consistency of this conclusion with the discussion of Science of Science carried out by the broader science community"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

West's Last ReportIs There an Optimal Funding Strategy forSTEM Research?

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Chapter 1Research Quality

1.1. The Problem

Funding Scenarios:

1.2. Forecasting Technology

1.3. Truncated History of Military Research

1.4. Is Everything Normal?

Typical is not Normal

Beguiled by Averages:

1.5. What is to Come?

Chapter 2Tales of Tails

2.1. Multiplicative Processes

2.2. Pareto Principle

2.3. Nonsimple Social Networks

Managing Nonsimplicity

2.4. S2TEM

S2TEM Research Quality Measures

Chapter 3Quality versus Quantity

3.1. Number of Publications

Collaboration Patterns

3.2. Number of Citations

SI Research Quality

3.3. Aggregate Measures

Research Wealth of Nations

Ranking Institutions

Chapter 4Extremes

4.1. Single Investigators (SIs)

Research Strategy

4.2. What is a Breakthrough Idea?

Quality versus Popularity

Journal Rankings

Chapter 5Universality

5.1. C-AR

Scaling

SICNs

Master Curve

5.2. Mittag-Leffler Probability

5.3. Hyperbolic PDF

Multiplicative Fluctuations

Chapter 6The Study

6.1. Scientific Significance as a Source of Value

Visibility Indicators

Influence Indicator

Persistence Indicator

6.2. Mission Relevance as a Source of Value

Co-Investment Indicators

Broader Interest Indicators

Transition Potential Indicator

6.3. Potential Breakthrough as Source of Value

Invention Indicators

Interdisciplinarity Indicators

Commercial Interest Indicators

6.4. Datasets and Results

6.5. Summary and Conclusion

Question One

Question Two

Main Conclusion:

Chapter 7Closing Observations

Personal Observations

References

Index

Blank Page.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: West, Bruce J. West's Last Report: Is There an Optimal Funding Strategy for STEM Research?

ISBN:

9798886977349

OCLC:

1377816338