HR: 14:20h
AN: H53G-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Transfer Paths of Research Results to the Practice: Observations From the Receiving End
AU: * Findikakis, A N
EM: anfindik@bechtel.com
AF: Bechtel National, 50 Beale Street, San Francisco, Ca 94105
AB: A non-scientific poll of fellow practicing professionals suggests that there is a range of opinions regarding the effectiveness of different ways of becoming acquainted with and using the results of academic research in their practice. Journal articles remain the dominant path for transferring research results to the profession, even though accessing them is becoming more difficult with time. Driven primarily by cost considerations personal and corporate subscriptions seem to be on the decline. Libraries are one of the first victims of cost cutting measures in the industry. Even though the availability of journal articles in electronic form facilitates their availability, their prices are prohibitive. This is especially true during when a professional is searching for a solution to a problem and may have to review several papers on the subject. One colleague suggested that the professional organizations and other publishers of research articles could learn from the experience of the music industry, by lowering the cost of downloading individual papers to something like a dollar per article, recovering thus their production costs through the increase in the volume of purchased articles. The posting on the internet of special reports and dissertations by research institutions is viewed as very useful by those working in practice. The distribution through the internet of reports by federal organizations conducting or sponsoring research, such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is greatly appreciated by the practicing professionals. The use of leading researchers as consultants provides a direct path for bringing research results to the practice, but it is limited to a small number of cases where bringing in a consultant can be justified. Short courses are viewed as an effective way of familiarizing professionals with the latest research findings on specific subjects. The notes distributed in such courses are considered especially useful. Conferences and special symposia offer the opportunity to practicing professionals to find out what is the latest in different subject areas, but many view such meetings as having either a practical or a research character, and expressed the desire for more meetings that would bring together the practitioners and the researchers. Commercialization is another path for bringing research results to the practice, but is limited to areas where the size of the market for the commercial application of research findings makes it economically viable. The extent of the adoption of research findings in the practice varies across subjects. The results of research in subjects driven by pressing practical needs, such as remediation of contaminated groundwater or hydraulic testing have been passed quickly to the practice. Using the results of research in subjects such as fracture flow and stochastic hydrogeology seems more elusive.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005