GoodWork Paper 22: A Review of the Santa Fe Institute: Institutional and Individual Qualities of Expert Interdisciplinary Work

Author(s): Dan Dillon

Editor(s): Jeff Solomon, Series Editor

Media: Paper

Description: This paper portrays the Santa Fe Institute—a center that studies the complexity of the natural, cultural, and social worlds we inhabit—founded in the early 1980s by a group of senior scientists affiliated with Los Alamos National Laboratories. The history of the institution as it frames the individual qualities of its interdisciplinary worker is examined as well as the organizational features that support or hinder their work. A qualitative study of this institution revealed four central characteristics of successful interdisciplinary workers: 1) a reputation for scientific rigor and excellence; 2) inclination and excitement towards interdisciplinary work; 3) the ability to ask good questions; and 4) the ability to teach. Unique to this institution‘s organizational structure is its combination of permanent and visiting researchers body; the combination of problem posing and problem solving approaches to interdisciplinary research; and a strong support for collaboration.