Social Science Research Council

The following individuals have each played an indispensable role in the Formation of Interdisciplinary Scientists project.

DIANA RHOTEN (PI) is the director of the Knowledge Institutions Program at the Social Science Research Council. Her primary research, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on the social and technical conditions of interdisciplinary collaboration and the practices, processes, and products of integrative research and research training. Recent publications can be found in Science, Nature and Research Policy. In addition to publishing in this arena, Diana also works with various universities, research organizations, and philanthropic foundations on the design and development of interdisciplinary research centers, integrative training programs, and collaborative grantmaking structures. For her work in this area, Diana was selected as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (July 2005-June 2007), an award that honors individuals at the leading edge of science. Prior to coming to the Social Science Research Council, Diana served as an assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Education (1999-2003) and as the Research Director of the Hybrid Vigor Institute (2001 - 2003).

ED HACKETT (co-PI) Edward J. Hackett is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, with appointments in the Consortium for Science Policy and Outcomes, the School of Sustainability, and the School of Life Sciences. From 2006 to present he has been on loan to the National Science Foundation, where he directs the Division of Social and Economic Sciences. His research concerns the social organization and dynamics of science and technology, the scientific career, and the governance of science. His recent work has appeared in Social Studies of Science, and Research Policy; he is editor, with Olga Amsterdamska, Michael Lynch, and Judy Wajcman, of the Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (MIT, 2007). He has been a professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1984-97) and an adjunct professor at The Rockefeller University (1992-4).p>

DAVID CONZ earned his Ph.D. in sociology at Arizona State University (2006) and his B.S. in aerospace engineering from Embry Riddle University (1995). His dissertation, "Citizen Technoscience: Amateur Networks in the International Biodiesel Fuel Movement" explores how amateurs form collaborative networks develop tools and technologies, promote social and environmental values, and influence (or avoid) policy while creating new knowledge about their recycled vegetable oil fuel. Dave was also student representative and a contributing editor of web publications for the Society for Social Studies of Science. Dave is currently teaching at Arizona State University while also serving as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society.

ERIN O'CONNOR is a doctoral candidate in Department of Sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her chief interests are ethnographic field methods, cultural sociology, the sociology of art and the sociology of knowledge. Her dissertation, an ethnography of the development of practical knowledge in glassblowing, explores modalities of tacit knowledge and the formation of lifeworlds and markets around the glassblowing practice. Her articles have appeared in Ethnography, Qualitative Sociology and two edited volumes, "Embodying Sociology" and "Practicing Culture". Additionally, she has instructed and collaboratively taught courses at The New School and New York University and is the Submissions Coordinator of Constellations, Journal of Internation and Democratic Theory.

ANDREW PARKER is a doctoral student in sociology at Stanford University. Previously, he was a research consultant with the IBM Institute for Knowledge-Based Organizations (IKO) in Cambridge, MA. He has conducted research in a wide range of Fortune 500 organizations and government agencies. His research has covered top-level executive teams, functional departments, communities of practice, and recently merged companies. Andrew has co-authored more than 10 articles and white papers on social network analysis. His articles have appeared in Social Networks, Sloan Management Review, Organizational Dynamics and California Management Review. He is also the co-author of The Hidden Power of Social Networks and co-editor of Networks in the Knowledge Economy. Andrew holds graduate degrees from Stanford University and the London School of Economics.

AARON PANOFSKY received a B.A. (1996) in Interdisciplinary Studies (Science Studies) from Amherst College, and his M.A. (2004) and Ph.D. (2006) in Sociology from New York University. Aaron is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Scholars in Health Policy Research Program at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. Aaron is currently focusing on two projects: first, a book on the field of behavior genetics that explores the links between its social and cultural organization, struggles for scientific authority, and its long history of controversy, and second, a study of the impact of patient advocacy groups on medical genetics research, in particular how patient advocates' efforts to take control of certain materials and activities away from scientists might improve the research process. After completing the RWJ fellowship, Aaron will join the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles as an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Public Policy and the Center for Society and Genetics.

RACHEL TRONSTEIN joined the SSRC Knowledge Institutions Program in November 2004, following a brief foray into electoral politics. Her work at the Council focused on the role of the public sector in the creation of knowledge, and the organization and design of higher education. Rachel holds an MSc in the Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics as well as a B.A. from the University of Michigan where she studied both political science and anthropology. As an undergraduate, Rachel was active in the design of the undergraduate academic program at the University of Michigan while serving as president of the government representing liberal arts undergraduates. She has also testified before Congress on reform mathematics programs at the secondary level. Rachel now works at the Princeton Review.