Research Management

TL;DR: Best practices for research thrust leaders in an engineering research center are discussed, covering leadership, communication, and management aspects.

Abstract: This chapter addresses best practices for research thrust leaders, the research team leaders who are positioned on the Engineering Research Center (ERC) organizational chart between center directors and individual faculty researchers, with responsibility for one of several “thrust” areas within the center’s overall research program. Although aimed at ERC research thrust leaders, the chapter’s content may also be of value to other members of a center’s leadership teams (e.g., directors and deputy directors, faculty, testbed leaders, and industrial partners). This section begins with background summarizing the quarter-century experience from which these best practices have emerged, followed by an explanation of the importance of research thrust leaders and the challenges they face. Perspectives on the types of best practices discussed in this chapter are then followed by a roadmap of the remaining sections.