What works in science and what doesn’t and how do we know? As the academic community faces greater scrutiny from external funders as to how and why research or education programs work, the need for external evaluation has never been more apparent.
The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) is now offering evaluative services to aid scientific research and education efforts. The newly formed NIMBioS Evaluation Services was established to provide independent, rigorous and transparent formative and summative evaluations of both research and educational programs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sector, particularly programs that are interdisciplinary.
NIMBioS uses a systems-based model of evaluation, which examines the organization as a whole, assesses the quality and significance of outcomes while still examining the inputs and processes leading to outcomes. NIMBioS also incorporates new research methods, such as bibliometrics to analyze publication output, network analysis to examine cross-disciplinary collaborations, and mapping of scientific output.
NIMBioS will collaborate with various partners including UT to handle the evaluation portion of grants. Pamela Bishop, a UT adjunct professor in evaluation, statistics and measurement, leads the NIMBioS evaluation team. She has an appointment in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Continue reading on the NIMBioS website.