One natural tendency for a research institute that is growing rapidly is to metastasize hierarchically. One example of this is to form a large number of centers within the institute, each center somewhat autonomous in terms of its research agenda.
The problem with this is two-fold:
First, the new centers tend to act as within-institutional barriers to the type of cross-pollination that is so important to significant scientific progress.
Second, the new centers are tempted to view themselves as somehow more significant scientifically than individual PI laboratories, and this tends to cause friction. Additionally, this creates a dynamic for PI’s to join centers or form new ones rather than be “left behind”.
Nevertheless, at Krasnow we have a number of very successful centers and so far, we have been reasonably lucky with regards to the two issues I just mentioned. I think one reason for that is the Annual Krasnow Scientific Retreat, which brings together all Krasnow scientists to discuss research in a non-center-centric fashion for a day and a half.
Another reason for our good fortune is that the Krasnow Institute itself is extraordinarily well-designed as far as facilitating interactions between groups. The challenge of course is that now at least one of our centers is off-site.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 