Imprinting or Learning? Charting the Organizational Evolution of Scientific Laboratories

• In Event: Interrogating Inequitable Systems and Processes in STEM

Abstract

How do scientific laboratories vary in how they operate, and do they change over time? Calls to study science as an organized system rather than the product of individual investigators are abundant, yet empirical attention is lacking. To address our question, we draw on data from 33 universities and follow over 52,000 faculty across their careers. We utilize two complementary clustering methods based on statistical modeling and machine learning to generate a typology of labs based on how faculty spend grants and assemble personnel. We find that while a majority of faculty maintain the same “lab model” throughout their career, many switch models at least once in ways that are patterned across time, by faculty gender, and by initial model.

Authors

• Vincent Yung, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Jeannette A. Colyvas, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author