Unexamined Consequences: Analyzing the Impact of Early Exposure to Proprietary Science on Careers and Knowledge Production

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project jointly funded by the Science, Technology & Society; Biology and Society; Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Society, and Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering programs addresses the impact of early exposure to commercial activity on careers in the physical and life sciences. The spread of commercial activity among university faculty is now widely accepted, and even encouraged on some campuses. But should such activity extend to graduate students? Moreover, what is the effect on graduate students of early career exposure to commercial involvement by their mentors -- does it shape their career choice or the focus of their science? This project addresses the less examined area of graduate students and the effects of exposure to commerce on careers and research programs. A core argument is that exposure to commercial science influences career choices, which in turn shapes the content of post-graduate research programs, the distribution of talent, and the trajectory of science. This project takes a novel approach by blending empirical and qualitative analysis with agent-based simulations to analyze the impact of commercial science on academic careers and scientific production. The study covers 35 years of graduates and the faculty who trained them in the physical and life sciences from Stanford University and then draws on these findings to develop predictive models. Specifically, the project addresses: how different forms of exposure to commercial science during graduate training influence careers and shape research programs; how the form and content of science differs depending on employment setting and relative to the laboratories where a scientist trained; and what the potential consequences are for the distribution of talent and the trajectory of science.