Engineering togetherness (an incentive system for interdisciplinary research)

Engineering faculty members today are expected to fulfill missions of classroom instruction, research and scholarship, and service. Particularly on research university campuses, there is an expectation that engineering faculty will conduct externally funded research. Moreover, engineering research should no longer be conducted in isolation as interdisciplinary research has taken on increased emphasis and importance. Traditional academic department organizations can present barriers to interdisciplinary research as inevitably issues of credit and money rear their heads. This paper describes the process that the University of Kansas uses to assign credit and to return overhead funds to academic units, research centers and institutes, and principal investigators in an effort to break down barriers to interdisciplinary research. We also describe the way that research centers are organized and administered at the university, again with the goal of promoting bigger projects and breaking down barriers. We conclude with results of these actions