This research might focus on defining needed collaborations and the incentives and disincentives that exist across disciplines, universities, and agencies within the grants-making enterprise. It might aim to uncover which incentives work under what conditions by examining community norms, interpersonal and organizational networks, theories of self interest and mutual interest, social exchange, proximity, shared electronic resources and facilities, physical environment, monetary incentives, or economies of scale.

This research could look at current models of group communication and operations to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The insufficiencies of these models represent a fundamental research challenge--modeling group operations for the purpose of basic understanding about how groups really work. Armed with this knowledge, we could then begin to build incentives and tools that truly support group processes.