Workshop

Click here for the Partnerships report. Participants will be researchers in the five MPS disciplines and representatives of nonprofit foundations. Participation is by invitation only.  Those wishing to be invited should email 785@msri.org. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and non-profit organizations each provide critical support to the U.S. basic research enterprise in the mathematical and physical sciences. While the missions of these funders differ, many of their goals align and the grantee communities have significant overlap. With the ultimate aim of helping to advance the scientific frontier in the most effective way, we propose to hold a workshop to examine partnerships between the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) at NSF and non-profit funders in MPS-related disciplines to   •       understand different models of collaboration (the “how”); •       understand different motivations for collaboration (the “why”); and •       develop opportunities for future communication and/or collaboration. With respect to different models of collaboration, explicit partnerships that exist across the NSF come in many types: joint creation of funding opportunities, jointly supported development of large infrastructure, joint hosting of events, development of joint strategic roadmaps, sharing of effective practices, jointly sponsored prize competitions, and more complex partnerships that encompass several of the above. In addition, there are implicit partnerships where several sources provide funding for the same project, but with the principal investigator orchestrating a sequential investment rather than coordination at the funder level. Finally, there are valuable examples of complementarity whereby funders play in different spaces so as to reduce redundancy and fill unmet needs. Are there other models that might be used? For each type of model, what are the benefits and what are the hurdles, from the perspective of the funders and from the perspective of the researcher performers? Because carefully implemented partnerships generally require a great deal of investment in time and effort, strong motivations must exist to put them into place. Some motivations include: generating more research activity in an area that both funders agree is ripe for support, introducing two research communities to each other who might not typically interact, exposing a research community to a new set of problems, sharing cost for a project that is too expensive for any one entity to absorb, and exploiting capability of different organizations to fund different types of costs (e.g., costs for international scientists or costs for very high risk projects.) Are there other motivations to consider? How do they vary by sector (academic, non-profit, government)? Where do the most important complementarities lie? After examining partnerships of various types, participants will discuss creative opportunities for future coordination. Discussions will entail both scientific focus and logistical considerations. The workshop will take place at the National Science Foundation to promote interaction with NSF leadership and staff. It will be led by a steering committee made up of individuals from both the academic and non-profit communities. A report of the proceedings will be made freely available on this website after the workshop. Please click HERE to see a detailed schedule Participants: Taft Armandroff (McDonald Observatory) Cynthia Atherton (Heising-Simons Foundation) Steven Baldelli (U Houston) Mike Blanton (NYU) Andrea Ghez (UCLA) John Burris (Burroughs-Wellcome) Mark Cardillo (Dreyfus Foundation) Vicki Chandler (Moore Foundation) Miyoung Chun (Kavli Foundation) Paulette Clancy (Cornell) David Eisenbud (MSRI/UC Berkeley) Christina Eubanks-Turner (LMU) Thomas Everhart (Cal Tech) Roger Falcone (UC Berkeley) Karl Gebhardt (U Texas) Ernie Glover (Moore Foundation) Daniel Goroff (Sloan Foundation) Jeff Hall (Lowell Observatory) Susan Hutchison (Simonyi Fund) Garth Illingworth (UC Santa Cruz) Richard Karp (SITOC) Erica Klarreich (freelance journalist) Hilton Lewis (Keck Observatory) Claire Max (UC Santa Cruz) Celia Merzbacher (SRC) Andy Millis (Columbia U.) Pat Osmer (Ohio State) Dusan Pejakovic (Moore Foundation) Maria Pellegrini (Keck Foundation) Caty Pilachowski (Indiana University Bloomington) Jill Pipher (ICERM) Sung Poblete (Stand Up To Cancer) W. Lowell Putnam, IV (Lowell Observatory) Curt Richter( NIST) Silvia Ronco (Research Corporation for Science Advancement) Fadil Santosa (IMA/Minnesota) David Silva (NOAO) Yuri Tschinkel (Simons Foundation/NYU) Tony Tyson (UC Davis) Karl van Bibber (UC Berkeley) Louis Vertegaal (NOW) Max Vögler (DFG North American Office) Sidney Wolff (NOAO & LSST) Ashley Zauderer (Templeton Foundation)