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1. Co-author network analysis of human-centered design for development

   https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.1  

   Li, Nancy; Kramer, Julia; Gordon, Pierce; Agogino, Alice (January 2018, Design Science)

   Human-centered design (HCD) offers a systematic approach to innovation practice, driven by customer research and feedback throughout the design process. Within the community of engineers and researchers who engage in design for global development, interest in HCD has grown in the past decade. In this paper, we examine the human-centered design for development (HCD+D) academic community to better understand the interactions between researchers. By building and evaluating a co-authorship network from a dataset of HCD+D papers, in which the nodes are researchers and the connecting links are co-authorship relationships, we provide a decade-long benchmark to answer a variety of questions about collaboration patterns within this emerging field. Our analysis shows that most HCD+D authors publish few papers and are part of small, well-connected sub-communities. Influential authors that bridge separate communities are few. HCD+D is emerging from disparate disciplines and widely shared scholarship across disciplines continues to be developed. Influential authors in HCD+D play a large role in shaping HCD+D, yet there are few authors that are in a position to connect and influence collaborative research. Our analysis gives rise to several implications including an increased need for cross-disciplinary collaboration and the need for a stronger core of HCD+D practitioners. 

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2. Evolution of a Plastic Surgery Summer Research Program: Lessons Learned from Programmatic Evaluation and Quality Enhancement

   https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000004785  

   Alfonso, Allyson R; Berman, Zoe P; Diep, Gustave K; Lee, Jasmine; Ramly, Elie P; Diaz-Siso, J Rodrigo; Rodriguez, Eduardo D; Rabbani, Piul S (January 2023, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open)

   Background:Early surgical exposure and research fellowships can influence medical students’ specialty choice, increase academic productivity, and impact residency match. However, to our knowledge, there is no published guidance on the programmatic evaluation and quality enhancement necessary for the sustainability of formal plastic surgery summer research programs for first year medical students. We present seven years (2013–2020) of institutional experience in an effort to inform program development at other institutions. Methods:From 2013 to 2016, a sole basic science research arm existed. In 2017, a clinical research arm was introduced, with several supplemental activities, including surgical skills curriculum. A formalized selection process was instituted in 2014. Participant feedback was analyzed annually. Long-term outcomes included continued research commitment, productivity, and residency match. Results:The applicant pool reached 96 applicants in 2019, with 85% from outside institutions. Acceptance rate reached 7% in 2020. With adherence to a scoring rubric for applicant evaluation, good to excellent interrater reliability was achieved (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.75). Long-term outcomes showed that on average per year, 28% of participants continued involvement in departmental research and 29% returned for dedicated research. Upon finishing medical school, participants had a mean of 7 ± 4 peer-reviewed publications. In total, 62% of participants matched into a surgical residency program, with 54% in integrated plastic surgery. Conclusions:A research program designed for first year medical students interested in plastic surgery can achieve academic goals. Students are provided with mentorship, networking opportunities, and tools for self-guided learning and career development. 

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3. Evaluating Collaborative Readiness for Interdisciplinary Flood Research

   Tate, E.; Decker, V.; Just, C. (December 2018, Risk analysis)

   Increasing trends in global flood risk are driven by a complex web of interactions among natural, built environment, and social systems. As a result, flood resilience research is an ideal topic for an interdisciplinary approach. Core characteristics of interdisciplinary research are team collaboration and the systematic integration of disciplinary knowledge, in both problem formulation and analytical methods. Indicators of interdisciplinarity tend to focus on scholarly outcomes, but collaborative processes may be even more important for knowledge integration. In this Perspective piece, we outline and advocate a two‐pronged approach to enhance potential for integrating knowledge: using collaborative proximity to assess team readiness to conduct interdisciplinary research and employing program evaluation to assess change in proximity components over time. To do so, we draw on scholarship in economic geography, team science, and program evaluation. We then connect the findings to a case study of collaboration within our interdisciplinary team of flood researchers, program evaluators, and local stakeholders, as we navigate a multi‐institutional project on flood resilience. 

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4. Interdisciplinarity can aid the spread of better methods between scientific communities

   https://doi.org/10.1177/26339137221131816  

   Smaldino, Paul E; O’Connor, Cailin (October 2022, Collective Intelligence)

   Why do bad methods persist in some academic disciplines, even when they have been widely rejected in others? What factors allow good methodological advances to spread across disciplines? In this paper, we investigate some key features determining the success and failure of methodological spread between the sciences. We introduce a formal model that considers factors like methodological competence and reviewer bias toward one’s own methods. We show how these self-preferential biases can protect poor methodology within scientific communities, and lack of reviewer competence can contribute to failures to adopt better methods. We then use a second model to argue that input from outside disciplines can help break down barriers to methodological improvement. In doing so, we illustrate an underappreciated benefit of interdisciplinarity. 

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5. A meta-analysis of community engaged learning and thriving in higher education

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1525176  

   Guanlao, Rachel; Pax, Jennifer; Wei, Yufeng; Zhang, Wei (June 2025, Frontiers in Education)

   IntroductionCommunity Engaged Learning (CEL) is recognized for its positive impact on student development in higher education. This meta-analysis examined the effects of CEL on academic, personal, social, and citizenship outcomes among college students. MethodsStudies were identified through PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and ERIC, and were included if they met the following criteria: peer-reviewed English-language publications from 2017 to 2024, alignment with widely accepted definitions of CEL, inclusion of a control group, and sufficient data to calculate effect sizes. Random-effects models were used to estimate Hedges's g, a standardized measure of effect size, for each outcome domain. ResultsOur results showed that CEL had a statistically significant, small to medium effect on academic outcomes (Hedges'sg= 0.344, 95% CI [0.190, 0.497],p< 0.001) and social outcomes (Hedges'sg= 0.371, 95% CI [0.167, 0.575],p< 0.001). The effect on citizenship outcomes was small but significant (Hedges'sg= 0.220, 95% CI [0.096, 0.344],p= 0.001). For personal outcomes, the effect was moderate (Hedges'sg= 0.694, 95% CI [−0.089, 1.477]) but not statistically significant (p= 0.082). The substantial variability observed across studies suggests that differences in CEL implementation, program focus, and student populations may influence outcomes. ConclusionOverall, our findings highlight CEL as an impactful pedagogy that contributes to academic success, personal growth, and civic engagement. Further research may explore the long-term impacts of CEL and identify specific program components that enhance its effectiveness. 

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