BUFFALO, N.Y. — As the National Science Foundation announces its newest class of Science and Technology Centers (STCs), a University at Buffalo associate vice president has received NSF funding to examine what these pioneering centers can teach administrators about exceptional research teams, and how those lessons can help position the next high-impact advances.

The NSF’s STC program invests in exceptionally innovative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards.

Jill Szczesek, PhD, associate vice president for research administration and finance in UB’s Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences and a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is principal investigator on the NSF-funded project, “Identifying a Transferable Leadership and Organizational Learning Model from the Collective Experience of NSF Science and Technology Centers.”

“The University at Buffalo is recognized for its leadership in advancing collaborative, high-impact research," says Venu Govindaraju, senior vice president for research, innovation and economic development at UB. "NSF's selection of Dr. Szczesek to lead this project on STC leadership reflects her expertise in developing, building and supporting the teams that drive scientific discovery and the strength of UB’s research enterprise."

“This grant underscores how critical teams are to scientific discovery and how valuable Dr. Szczesek’s expertise in building and supporting teams has been, both in leading an STC herself and in supporting research across the health sciences,” says Allison Brashear, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School.

The 18-month project will examine the leadership, organizational and team practices that have enabled NSF Science and Technology Centers to develop, adapt and maximize their impact over time.

“Science and Technology Centers were pioneering because NSF recognized that some of the biggest opportunities in science require us to think differently about how to organize people and institutions around discovery,” says Szczesek. “These centers represent an extraordinary body of experience. We have an opportunity to learn from what they have built, how they have evolved and what has enabled these teams to achieve things that would have been difficult to accomplish otherwise.”

Szczesek has firsthand experience with the STC model. Before assuming her current role, she served as managing director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Biology with X-ray Free Electron Lasers (BioXFEL), a multi-institutional center headquartered at UB. BioXFEL, one of the most productive STCs to date, brought together researchers from institutions across the country to advance the use of X-ray free-electron lasers to understand biological molecules and processes at the atomic level.

Szczesek’s doctoral work at UB focused on team science and how organizational structures, shared resources, and collaborative approaches can enable high-performing scientific teams to amplify the impact of major research investments.

“The STC program has been tremendously impactful. Centers have accumulated  knowledge about leadership, communication, partnerships, culture, succession and sustainability,” Szczesek says. “Capturing that collective knowledge gives us an opportunity to carry forward what has been learned and use it to strengthen future teams and research opportunities.”

William J. Bauer, PhD, principal research support specialist of the Department of Pediatrics in UB’s Jacobs School, is a co-investigator on the project. Eaton E. Lattman, PhD, professor emeritus of structural biology in the Jacobs School and of materials design and innovation in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and former director of BioXFEL will serve as a consultant.