Whether it is local, “wicked” problems that are complex, challenging, with multiple feedbacks, high uncertainty, and ambiguous solutions, or NSF’s Grand Societal Challenges, we are increasingly needing to take multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary team science approaches to understand and potentially solve these problems. However, such cross-disciplinary research efforts have struggled for both taskwork and teamwork reasons. An emerging science of team science is producing greater understanding of the team science phenomenon and suggestions for overcoming implementation obstacles. We have been building professional development training to build competencies among coastal and marine STEM doctoral students to be more effective in team science.
His talk will provide an overview of the emerging science of team science and the strategies for improving the effectiveness of multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary initiatives.