Browsing by Author "Hayes, Whitney"

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    Faculty Research Practices in Civil and Environmental Engineering: Insights from a Qualitative Study Designed to Inform Research Support Services
    Hayes, Whitney; Pannabecker, Virginia; Shen, Yi; Smith, Erin M.; Thompson, Larry (Virginia Tech, 2018-12-14)
    This qualitative study analyzes and reports on in-depth interviews with eight faculty from the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. This project is part of a larger series of studies from Ithaka S+R on the research support needs of scholars by discipline. Ithaka S+R provided guidance on research methodology and data analysis.The goal of the study was to better understand the overall and day to day research practices of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) faculty to inform priorities and needs for research support services. The interviewees represented different career levels (Assistant, Associate, and full Professor) with at least one being from each of the Virginia Tech CEE department’s five fields of focus. Findings address five thematic areas from the interview transcripts: research, collaboration, data practices, information discovery and management, and research communication and dissemination. Implications identify four major support needs and service opportunities: supporting faculty goals to share more of their work in open access venues, supporting use of Google Scholar as a major research tool, data education and services for all - from students to faculty, and the continuing importance of student training in information source evaluation and critical appraisal.
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    Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Civil and Environmental Engineering Scholars
    Cooper, Danielle; Springer, Rebecca; Benner, Jessica G.; Bloom, David; Carrillo, Erin; Carroll, Alexander; Chang, Bertha; Chen, Xiaoju; Daix, Daix; Dommermuth, Emily; Figueiredo, Rachel; Haas, Jennifer; Hafner, Carly A.; Hayes, Whitney; Henshilwood, Angela; Krogman, Alexandra Lyn Craig |Kuglitsch, Rebecca Zuege; Lanteri, Sabine; Lewis, Abbey; Li, Lisha; Marsteller, Matthew R.; Melvin, Tom; Michelson-Ambelang, Todd; Mischo, William H.; Nickles, Colin; Pannabecker, Virginia; Rascoe, Fred; Schlembach, Mary C.; Shen, Yi; Smith, Erin M.; Spence, Michelle; Stacy-Bates, Kris; Thomas, Erin; Thompson, Larry; Thuna, Mindy; Wiley, Christie A.; Young, Sarah; Yu, Siu Hong (Ithaka S+R, 2019-01-16)
    Ithaka S+R’s Research Support Services Program investigates how the research support needs of scholars vary by discipline. In 2017 and 2018 Ithaka S+R examined the changing research methods and practices of civil and environmental engineering scholars in the United States with the goal of identifying services to better support them. The goal of this report is to provide actionable findings for the organizations, institutions, and professionals who support the research processes of civil and environmental engineering scholars. The project was undertaken collaboratively with research teams at 11 academic libraries in the United States and Canada.[1] We are delighted to have the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as project partner and sponsor. Angela Cochran, Associate Publisher at ASCE, served as a project advisor. The project also relied on scholars who are leaders in the field to engage in an advisory capacity. We thank Franz-Joseph Ulm (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Antonio Nanni (University of Miami), Anand Puppala (University of Texas at Arlington), and Roger Ghanem (University of Southern California) for their thoughtful contributions. Many of the challenges civil and environmental engineering researchers face are shared with other STEM disciplines – a competitive funding landscape, a fraught peer review system, complex data management requirements. Yet this applied field presents unique opportunities for academic support service providers. Fundamentally focused on finding practicable solutions to real-world problems, civil and environmental engineering is highly collaborative, interdisciplinary, and close to relevant industries. Yet these synergies are largely built on old-fashioned research infrastructures. Inefficient systems for sharing data impede innovation, tools for discovering data and gray literature are inadequate, and career incentives discourage investment in the industry partnerships that shape the field’s future directions. Successful interventions will need to recognize and leverage the field’s strength in building personal, targeted, collaborative relationships, both within academia and between academia and industry. This report describes the distinctive ways in which civil and environmental engineering scholars conduct their research and draws out broad implications for academic libraries, universities, publishers, research technology developers, and others.