1. Theme 4: Identifying Data Needs for Implementing SoSP Summary December 4, 2008

2. Measuring and tracking federal funding 93% agreed with Option 1 Establish a portal for all datasets (federal and non federal) that capture information about federal funding Major Discussion questions A. Is standardization of federal funding data across agencies worthwhile IF it is feasible? B. Is standardization of federal funding data feasible?

3. Measuring and tracking Scientific Workforce 85% agreed: Create a pooled interagency dataset on the STEM workforce (30% number 1) 93% agreed: Encourage agencies to collect sufficient characteristics about those graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who receive federal funding so that their future scientific contributions can be tracked. (17% number 1) 88% agreed: Encourage agencies to use unique PI identifiers so that federal funding can be tracked across agencies (17% number 1) Major Discussion Questions A. Should there be a common STEM ID for all PIs? B. Should there be a common STEM ID for all participants engaged in the scientific enterprise? C. Is there a need for a single definition of “scientific workforce”?

4. Measuring and tracking scientific output 91% agreed with statement: Create a pooled open access repository of standardized publications, citations and working papers (37% ranked #1) 89% agreed with statement: Require that PI’s cite funding source in standardized form in publications (14% ranked #1) Major Discussion Questions Is standardization of data by scientific fields (e.g., molecular biology) and scientific objectives (e.g., medical research) desirable if we could establish multiple and/or overlapping taxonomies or ontologies (e.g., one research project is labeled as both molecular biology and medical research)? Could such multiple, and non-mutually exclusive categorizations be feasibly established? Are our systems of data collection flexible and responsive enough to be driven and implemented by analytical insight as to what is truly needed?

5. Measuring and tracking competitiveness 78% agreed with: Create a portal with information and links to all federally funded data and research studying competitiveness (30% ranked #1) 79% agreed with: Link federal award information to Census Bureau data sets on firms and workers (18% ranked #1) 75% agreed with: Require standardized reporting across agencies for business startups linked to federal funding (12% ranked #1) Major Discussion Questions Can “competitiveness” be unambiguously and nonpolitically measured Can such a measure serve as a useful input to science policy decisions?

6. Access Major Discussion Questions Can data access be securely provided without increasing the administrative burden to investigators? Should researchers forgo some confidentiality protections they currently enjoy if by doing so the science enterprise could be better understood?