The emerging field of nanotechnology has created a new frontier for the convergence of university and industrial research. In the United States, major federal investments provided a massive boom for this field over the decade. This paper reports on a case study of how the University at Albany came to establish the first college of nanotechnology…

Organized research units--also known as centers, institutes, and laboratories--are increasingly prominent in the university. This paper examines how ORUs emerge to promote global agendas and international collaborations in an academic health center in North America. The roles these units play in helping researchers work across institutional and…

The goal to enhance the impacts of academic research in the "real world" resonates with progressive visions of the role of universities in society, and finds support among policy makers who have sought to enhance the "transfer", "translation", "uptake", or "valorization" of research knowledge in several areas of public services. This paper reports…

Global health is becoming an important area of inquiry and learning in North American research universities, stemming from on-going and new commitments to the field by multiple governmental and non-governmental agents. External demands for research and education in global health require enhanced inter-disciplinary, inter-sectoral and international…

In the context of increasing support for interdisciplinary modes of research, many in the policy, scientific, and academic communities propose that universities should change structurally to reduce the barriers to investigation that involves researchers from multiple disciplines. This paper examines "interdisciplinary strategies" in U.S. research…