Extract
Institutional challenges of interdisciplinary research centers.
Introduction
Throughout the academic and research community, interdisciplinary research has become a catch phrase (Giacomini, 2004; Robertson, Martin, & Singer, 2003). With the recent emphasis in the NIH Roadmap initiative (http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/roadmapnewsecir.asp) on interdisciplinary and translational sciences, interdisciplinarity has become the model of scholarly inquiry generally espoused by many who seek and receive federal research funding. Despite this, there are major gaps in our general understanding of interdisciplinary research and how it can be successfully integrated and sustained in academic health science centers and universities (Mallon & Bunton, 2005). Entities designated as interdisciplinary research centers abound in large universities and academic health centers, but in many settings the mantra of interdisciplinary research may be no more than lip service. Such centers have been described as follows (Committee on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, 2004): Some are bigger and intellectually more influential than some academic departments. Others are highly specialized and narrow. Some have existed for decades, others disappear after only a few years, and still others merge to create new units or emerge when one interdisciplinary unit is split. Some have retained their original purpose throughout their lifetimes; others have substantially shifted t...See the full content of this document
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