CALTECH  ‘ORCHID’  FUNDAMENTAL  RESEARCH  PROJECT-­  CASE  STUDY    

EXECUTIVE  OVERVIEW    This  is  a  story  of  fundamental  scientific  research  being  conducted  in  a  multi-­university  collaboration  across  continents  and  across  various  branches  of  theoretical  and  experimental  physics.  Specifically,  one  project  in  the  ‘Orchid’  program  (funded  by  DARPA)  has  combined  the  specialist  expertise  of  two  experimental  laboratories,  (one  at  Caltech  in  the  United  States  and  another  at  the  University  of  Vienna  in  Austria),  together  with  a  global  network  of  renowned  theoretical  physicists.  Their  shared  objective  has  been  to  achieve  a  breakthrough  in  exploring  frontiers  of  knowledge  about  ‘opto-­mechanics’,  a  young  field  of  science  focused  on  the  use  of  light  to  manipulate  mechanical  devices  at  nano-­scale.    Despite  this  ambition,  however,  it  is  known  from  previous  studies  that  multi-­university  research  has  a  tendency  to  be  “problematic”.  Multi-­university  projects,  by  comparison  with  multi-­disciplinary  projects  within  single  institutions  have  been  shown  to  have  significantly  fewer  project  outcomes.  Within  this  particular  global  collaboration,  the  challenges  have  been  heightened  by  the  unpredictable  nature  of  fundamental  research,  as  well  as  by  the  diversity  of  laboratory  technology  and  experimental  processes  being  used  by  researchers  in  different  universities.  Therefore,  it  is  notable  that  this  4-­year  DARPA  project  has  produced  some  “milestone”  experimental  findings  documented  in  internationally  recognized  publications1.      Supporting  the  virtual  organization  of  the  research  studied  in  this  case,  there  appear  to  have  been  significant  coordination  mechanisms.  For  example,  the  compelling  mission  of  the  project,  the  contribution  of  graduate  students  from  one  institution  “embedded”  for  lengthy  periods  as  researchers  in  a  counterpart  institution/laboratory  and  acting  in  liaison  or  “straddler”  roles,  timely  use  of  periodic  face-­to-­face  communication  among  scientists,  and  facilitation  provided  by  the  DARPA  program  manager,  all  seem  to  have  made  a  positive  difference  in  the  outcomes  of  this  project.  Thus,  this  experience  may  offer  insights  about  possible  ways  to  meet  the  “costs”  of  multi-­organizational  collaboration,  particularly  in  the  field  of  fundamental  research.  

                                                                                                               1  Among  the  publications  supported  by  the  Orchid  project  is:  Safavi-­‐Naeini,  A.H.  et  al.,  2013,  “Squeezed  Light  from  a  Silicon  Micromechanical  Resonator”,  Nature  500,  pp.  185-­‐189.  

HISTORY/BACKGROUND-­‐-­‐SITE  &  PROJECT:    In  June  2010,  faculty  from  the  Division  of  Engineering  &  Applied  Science  and  the  Division  of  Physics  at  the  California  Institute  of  Technology  (Caltech)  began  a  fundamental  or  pure  research  project,  a  theoretical  and  experimental  program  in  ‘Optomechanics’  (i.e.  use  of  light  to  manipulate  mechanical  devices  at  nano-­‐scale).    From  the  outset,  however,  Caltech  scientists  conceived  of  this  project  as  a  global  collaboration  with  scientists  at  other  universities  in  Austria,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Canada,  and  the  United  States.    ‘Optomechanics’  is  a  very  young  field  of  science  that  started  only  5-­‐10  years  ago,  merging  various  branches  of  physics,  namely,  optics  (the  study  of  the  behavior  and  properties  of  light),  photonics  (the  use  of  light  to  perform  functions  like  information  processing  and  telecommunications,  traditionally  within  the  domain  of  electronics),  and  quantum  mechanics  (the  study  of  the  interaction  of  energy  and  matter  at  the  sub-­‐atomic  scale).  Consequently,  scientists  who  work  in  the  field  of  ‘optomechanics’  are  all  physicists  but  come  from  a  diverse  background  of  disciplines.        The  project  is  named  “Optical  Radiation  Cooling  and  Heating  of  Integrated  Devices”  (ORCHID).    It  originated  from  an  applied  physics  research  proposal  that  was  made  in  2009  to  the  Microsystems  Technology  Office  of  DARPA  (Defense  Advanced  Research  Projects  Agency)  of  the  US  Department  of  Defense.    The  proposal  built  upon  a  theoretical  proposition  regarding  the  use  of  (laser)  light  to  (cool)/reduce  mechanical  motion  at  nano-­‐scale.    Subsequently,  DARPA  incorporated  this  proposal  into  an  overall  program  of  study.    The  DARPA  ‘ORCHID’  research  program  has  had  two  phases.  Phase  One  from  June  2010  to  June  2012  is  fundamental  research,  (R1  on  the  R&D  spectrum,  see  Fig.  1  below),  exploring  frontiers  of  knowledge  about  the  physics  of  optomechanical  devices  through  demonstration  and  measurement  of  various  optomechanical  effects  on  specific  device  platforms  like  microscopic  crystals.  Phase  Two,  from  July  2012  to  June  2014  called  for  applied  research,  (R2  on  the  R&D  spectrum),  thereby  building  a  robust  “toolbox”  of  techniques  for  a  variety  of  application  areas  (sensors,  oscillators,  etc.),  leading  potentially  to  technology  applications  in  cell  phones  and  other  telecommunications  equipment.    Within  the  overall  ‘ORCHID’  program,  in  addition  to  the  research  team/project  led  by  Caltech,  there  are  4  other  projects/teams-­‐-­‐2  teams  from  Yale,  1  team  from  UCLA  Berkeley,  and  1  team  from  Cornell  University.    Supporting  all  5  teams  of  ‘Experimentalists’  is  one  globally  dispersed  team  of  ‘Theorists’.    The  scope  of  this  VOSS  study  is  limited  primarily  to  the  team/project  led  by  Caltech  ‘Experimentalists’  (with  support  by  the  ‘Theory’  team),  and  is  focused  primarily  on  the  time  period  involving  the  ‘pure’  research  of  Phase  One.2    This  virtual  organization  case  study  focuses,  therefore,  on  work  designated  as  ‘R1’  (Fundamental  Research)  on  one  extreme  end  of  the  Research  &  Development  continuum,  a  format  for  R&D  based  on  the  classical  work  of  Bell  Labs,  (Mashey  as  reported  in  Revkin,  2008)  and  illustrated  below  in  Figure  1  as  six  stages  or  types  of  Research  &  Development  work.  

                                                                                                               2  See  Appendix  1:  Methodology  

Figure 1: A Six-Stage Continuum of the R&D Process3  

 PROJECT  STAKEHOLDERS:    DARPA  is  the  primary  funding  source  (almost  $5  M)  to  the  Caltech  team/project,  over  a  period  of  4  years.    The  mandate  of  DARPA  is  to  support  ‘hard  research’-­‐-­‐out  of  the  reach  of  current  technology  by  a  factor  of  10.  (For  example,  DARPA  is  the  agency  that  gave  birth  to  the  predecessor  of  the  Internet  and  GPS  technologies.)  Therefore,  this  is  an  agency  very  familiar  with  the  challenges  and  requirements  of  sponsorship  and  management  of  highly  exploratory  research.        The  DARPA  funding  is  supplemented  by  grants  from  the  European  Commission,  the  European  Research  Council,  and  the  Austrian  Science  Fund.    Nevertheless,  DARPA  is  the  driving  force  behind  this  research  program,  and  the  DARPA  Project  Manager  is  active  in  promoting  “collaboration”  among  the  scientific  groups,  in  particular  between  the  experimentalists  and  the  theorists.    Within  the  Caltech-­‐led  ORCHID  project,  there  are  5  ‘experimentalist’  scientific  groups,  3  located  at  Caltech,  1  in  Austria,  and  1  in  Switzerland,  (see  Fig.  1).  Two  of  the  Caltech  groups  are  located  in  the  same  building  that  houses  the  Department  of  Applied  Physics.  The  third  Caltech  group  belongs  to  the  Department  of  Physics  in  a  separate  location  on  this  small  university  campus.    Each  group  is  led  by  an  experimental  physicist/professor,  with  their  

                                                                                                               3  Bell  Labs’  R&D  Portfolio  Management  profile,  as  reported  by  John  Mashey  to  Andrew  Revkin  (NY  Times,  December  12,  2008),  and  adapted  by  Carolyn  Ordowich.  

own  laboratories  staffed  by  graduate  and  post-­‐doctoral  students.    Approximately  20  Caltech  personnel  are  involved  with  the  ‘ORCHID’  project  in  some  way.        While  the  Principal  Investigators  (PIs)  of  all  3  groups  and  a  number  of  their  graduate  students  have  conducted  research  and  published  together  quite  extensively,  for  the  ‘ORCHID’  project  the  3  Caltech  laboratories  with  their  groups  operate  independently.      The  Micro  &  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group  does,  however,  fabricate  some  of  the  devices  used  in  experiments  conducted  by  the  Quantum  Optics  Group.  Each  group  is  conducting  different  experiments  on  3  different  types  of  optomechanical  device  platforms.      This  VOSS  study  focuses  on  the  working  relationship  between  the  Micro  &  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group  at  Caltech  and  the  Quantum  Optics  &  Nanophysics  Group  in  the  University  of  Vienna,  Austria.  Among  the  collaborations  the  Austrian  laboratory  and  the  Photonics  Group  at  Caltech  have  established  the  closest  relationship.    The  Micro  &  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group  fabricates  its  own  devices  (optomechanical  crystals)  and  conducts  its  own  experiments.  It  is  also  fabricating  devices  for  use  in  similar  experiments  that  are  run,  using  different  methods,  on  significantly  different  equipment  in  the  Austrian  Quantum  Optics  laboratory.  Thus,  there  is  strong  interdependence  between  the  Caltech  Photonics  Group  and  the  Austrian  Quantum  Optics  Group.      The  Austrian  school  is  world-­‐famous  for  their  technical  infrastructures  that  can  do  experiments  at  temperatures  1000  times  lower  than  possible  at  Caltech.    The  Caltech  lab  has  the  advantage  in  the  manufacture  of  quality  devices  for  experimentation,  and  in  this  project,  the  Austrian  lab  depends  upon  the  Caltech  lab  for  state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art  patterning  of  nano-­‐structure  devices.    Another  Caltech  comparative  advantage  is  its  expertise  in  techniques  of  “getting  light  in  and  out  of”  these  devices  using  a  special  fiber  that  has  not  been  replicated  elsewhere  in  the  world.      Until  the  ORCHID  project,  however,  these  2  scientific  groups  had  never  collaborated.  The  idea  for  collaboration  arose  in  an  informal  discussion  between  the  leaders  of  the  two  groups  at  a  scientific  meeting  after  the  DARPA  proposal  was  submitted.      Another  aspect  of  scientific  collaboration  that  is  a  focus  of  this  study  concerns  interaction  between  the  3  groups  of  theoretical  physicists  and  the  experimentalists  (see  Fig.  2).  The  ‘Theory’  team  was  brought  together  for  the  ORCHID  project  at  the  initiative  of  the  DARPA  Project  Manager  who  polled  the  experimental  scientists  for  recommendations  of  specific  theoretical  physicists  most  capable  of  providing  “support  for  experimentation”  and  for  advancement  of  optomechanical  theory  based  on  ORCHID  experimental  findings.      The  3  principal  investigators  on  the  theory  team  represented  3  different  schools.    The  three  worked  in  Germany,  Canada,  and  the  United  States.      Only  two  of  the  theorists  have  done  substantial  prior  work  together.    Also,  although  the  members  of  this  theory  team  have  a  track  record  of  collaboration  with  optomechanical  experimentalists,  in  this  specific  case,  only  1  of  the  theoretical  physicists  has  worked  previously  with  1  of  the  Caltech  professors  on  two  joint  publications.  However,  2  of  the  theoretical  physicists  have  contributed  to  a  number  of  joint  publications  co-­‐authored  with  one  of  the  experimental  physicists  who  leads  another  ORCHID  project  team  at  Yale  University.    Professional  links  may  contribute  to  communications  opportunities  and  past  interactions  may  create  assumptions  about  how  work  will  progress.    

 Indeed,  the  theory  team  proposal  submitted  to  DARPA  anticipated  that  the  ORCHID  project  would  be  particularly  challenging  for  them,  with  respect  to  scientific  management.  First,  there  was  expectation  of  some  “competition”  for  theory  support  from  among  the  5  experimentalist  project  teams,  (the  Caltech-­‐based  team  +  4  other  project  teams  at  Yale,  Berkeley,  and  Cornell).    Secondly,  the  theory  team  assigned  within  its  own  DARPA  budget  a  substantial  provision  for  travel,  as  one  way  to  meet  the  larger  challenge  of  maintaining  a    “close  connection”  with  the  geographically  dispersed  research  groups.  

   THE  CHALLENGES  OF  ‘VIRTUAL  ORGANIZATION’  FOR  FUNDAMENTAL  RESEARCH:    One  of  the  central  collaborative  challenges  in  the  virtual  setting  between  the  Caltech  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group  and  the  Quantum  Optics  Group  at  the  University  of  Vienna  is  related  to  the  very  nature  of  their  work.  Pure  or  fundamental  research,  (R1  on  our  R&D  spectrum—see  Figure  1)  is  inherently  unpredictable  and  fraught  with  ambiguity.    The  objective  of  the  ORCHID  project  is  discovery  and  knowledge  generation,  with  no  certainty  of  what  will  be  learned  about  the  capabilities  of  specific  device  platforms  to  actually  display  heretofore  hypothetical  optomechanical  effects.  Moreover,  how  to  achieve  such  discovery  has  never  been  entirely  clear  during  the  early  stages  of  the  ORCHID  project,  in  terms  of  questions  that  have  remained  about  what  would  be  the  most  productive  experiments  to  run,  and  how  such  experiments  should  be  designed.    

Research  has  often  documented  examples  of  the  efficacy  of  clarity  and  predictability  in  work.    Malhotra  et  al.  described  “innovation  without  collocation”  in  their  case  study  at  Boeing-­‐Rocketdyne  where  the  parameters  of  the  desired  outcome  were  clear,  though  not  the  ‘how’  of  achieving  a  breakthrough  design  concept  for  liquid-­‐fuelled  rocket  engine  technology.4    Extreme  unpredictability  is  also  directly  contrary  to  findings  by  Olson  et  al.  in  their  decade-­‐long  study  of  science  collaboratories,  where  a  key  factor  leading  to  success  has  been  work  that  is  “unambiguous.”  5  Further  evidence  of  the  challenge  faced  by  the  ORCHID  project  team  is  found  in  Chudoba  et  al.’s  conclusion  that  “work  predictability”  is  a  key  mitigating  factor  for  success  in  a  virtual  organizational  setting6.    Doing  pure  research  in  a  virtual  setting  then,  offers  special  challenges  that  are  inherent  in  the  work  and  the  mode  of  interaction.    A  second  criterion  Olson  et  al.  identified  as  a  factor  leading  to  success  in  collaboratories  was  an  ability  to  act  “somewhat  independently  from  one  another”.      The  Vienna  laboratory  is  dependent  upon  Caltech  to  fabricate  unique  optomechanical  crystal  devices  for  use  in  experiments  that  Caltech  is  depending  upon  the  Viennese  scientists  to  run  on  their  unique  laser-­‐cooling  equipment.  This  substantial  interdependence  between  the  two  laboratories  implies  a  need  for  continuous  and  effective  interaction,  albeit  in  a  virtual  mode.        On  top  of  these  challenges  in  the  nature  of  work  within  this  research  project,  there  are  other  “discontinuities”  (or  factors  that  could  contribute  to  a  decrease  in  cohesion  and  a  capability  for  collaboration).    Chudoba  et  al.  have  already  identified  that  “greater  variety  of  work  practices  negatively  impact  performance”  in  virtual  settings,  and  here  within  the  ORCHID  project,  the  two  experimentalist  groups,  of  Quantum  Optics  and  of  Nano-­‐Photonics  are  based  on  related  but  very  different  disciplines,  and  use  differing  language  to  describe  similar  data.  Moreover,  the  theoretical  physicists  have  their  own  approach  to  problem-­‐solving  that  differs  from  that  of  either  of  the  experimentalist  schools.    Compounding  the  difference  in  disciplines  or  professional  cultures  that  exists  between  the  two  laboratories  is  the  difference  in  the  equipment  that  they  use  for  experimentation.  It  is  an  overall  advantage  for  the  ORCHID  project  that  the  University  of  Vienna  laboratory  has  a  technical  infrastructure  that  can  do  experiments  at  1000  times  lower  temperatures  than  is  possible  at  Caltech.  However,  the  techniques  that  Caltech  has  perfected  for  “getting  light  in  and  out  of”  its  optomechanical  devices  do  not  work  on  the  Austrian  experimental  infrastructure.  Thus, a key challenge in this collaboration is for the scientists to invent a new technique for using their devices that would be compatible with the Austrian laboratory. Just the way this disconnect alone was discovered illustrates a need for close interaction. A graduate student from Vienna was visiting and noticed that there was a mismatch in the way the equipment was supposed to fit together. This coincidental visit and the discovery it triggered greatly facilitated the work of the entire process.    Finally,  all  of  these  scientists  have  experienced  or  are  familiar  with  some  past  failures  or  shortcomings  in  multi-­‐university  research7,  often  due  to  conflicting  priorities  among                                                                                                                  4  Malhotra  et.  al.,  MIS  Quarterly,  Jun  2001:  25,  2;  pp.  229-­‐249.  5  Olson  &  Olson,  Human-­Computer  Interaction,  2000:  15,  pp.  139-­‐178.  6  Chudoba  et.  al.  Info  Systems  Journal,  2005:  15,  pp.  279-­‐306.  7  Cummings  &  Kiesler,  Research  Policy,  2007:  36,  pp.  1620-­‐1634.  

diverse  institutions.  With  the  best  of  intentions,  a  conflict  in  priorities  may  not  be  apparent  at  the  outset  of  a  collaboration,  but  geographic  separation  has  a  way  of  expanding  this  type  of  inter-­‐organizational  “discontinuity”.    Specifically,  within  the  ORCHID  project,  this  factor  has  potential  for  impact,  insofar  as  here,  exploratory  research  is  being  practiced  under  tight  timelines  with  6-­‐month  review  periods  (administered  by  the  funding  agency,  DARPA).      Given  all  of  this  background,  the  primary  challenge  has  been  to  learn  if  and  how  the  geographically  dispersed  teams  of  experimentalist  and  theoretical  physicists  might  effectively  converge  their  thinking  and  diverse  perspectives,  in  order  to  answer  the  fundamental  ‘what’  and  ‘how’  questions  posed  by  the  ORCHID  project  within  a  virtual  collaborative  scientific  organization.      OUR  FINDINGS:    For  this  case  the  focus  is  on  3  topics;  the  nature  of  the  collaborative  relationships,  identification  of  key  deliberations  involved  in  this  research  process,  and  the  nature  and  media  of  communication  used  by  participants  in  these  deliberations.    Each  of  these  topics  highlights  an  aspect  of  the  work  between  ORCHID  participant  scientists  and  students  as  well  as  in  part  the  influence  of  the  funding  agency  in  creating  a  more  effective  initial  grouping  of  skills  and  capabilities.    Collaboration  The  at-­‐distance  collaboration  between  the  Caltech-­‐based  Micro  &  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group  and  the  Austrian  Optics  &  Nanophysics  Group  has  proven  to  be  even  more  challenging  than  anticipated.    A  major  element  of  the  challenge  came  from  the  need  to  invent  a  new  methodology  that  would  enable  devices  fabricated  by  Caltech  to  run  on  the  experimental  equipment  in  the  Austrian  laboratory.  This  co-­‐invention  required  recognition  or  identification  of  the  problem  and  an  extremely  detailed  mutual  understanding  of  the  technical  capabilities  and  limitations.    The  actual  geographic  constraints  and  virtual  organization  added  to  this  very  challenging  task.      Tremendous  mutual  respect  between  the  leaders  and  staff  of  the  two  laboratories  and  the  shared  strong  “motivation”  to  collaborate  combined  to  enhance  the  chances  of  project  success.  In  the  opinion  of  the  Austrians,  “no  group  worldwide  can  make  such  devices  as  at  Caltech”,  and  similarly,  the  view  expressed  by  members  of  the  Caltech  Group  is  that  the  “Vienna  school  is  world  famous”  for  the  quality  of  its  experimental  scientists  and  the  capability  of  their  equipment  to  do  experiments  at  1000  times  lower  temperatures  than  is  possible  at  Caltech.    The  mutual  respect  between  the  labs  has  also  led  to  a  relationship  that  is  “complementary”  and  “not  competitive”.  Most  importantly,  the  combination  of  the  two  types  of  expertise  creates  a  unique  opportunity  for  scientific  breakthrough.    As  one  group  leader  said,  it  was  “the  first  time  in  principle…to  enter  a  regime  that  we  can  do  [quantum]  experiments  with  truly  microscopic  systems”.      Even  during  the  early  intense  period  of  experimentation  within  this  collaboration,  it  has  already  yielded  a  series  of  internationally  recognized  publications  and  a  “milestone”  experiment/demonstration  of  a  capability  “to  cool  a  miniature  mechanical  object  to  its  

lowest  possible  energy  state  using  laser  light”  which  “paves  the  way  for…quantum  experiments  that  scientists  have  long  dreamed  of  conducting”8  (See  Fig.  3).      Figure  3:    Nanoscale  Silicon  Mechanical  Resonator  used  in  breakthrough  Caltech  Experiment    

 

                                                                                                               8  “Caltech  Team  Uses  Laser  Light  to  Cool  Object  to  Quantum  Ground  State”,  Caltech  Media  Relations  News  Release,  California  Institute  of  Technology,  Pasadena  CA,  October  5,  2011.  

Credibility  and  capability  have  always  been  important  in  science  but  they  become  more  critical  in  a  virtual  working  relationship.    Competence  is,  therefore,  an  equally  significant  motivation  for  collaboration  between  the  theoretical  and  the  experimental  physicists  within  the  ORCHID  project.    On  one  hand,  theoretical  physicists  want  to  have  connection  with  experimentalists  to  advance  their  understanding  of  what  theoretical  questions  would  be  most  relevant  and  even  feasible  for  experimentation.  In  the  words  of  a  group  leader  and  a  colleague  in  theoretical  physics,  “you  want  to  be  the  first  to  know  about  really  interesting  data…and  so,  you  go  for  the  best  experimental  groups  that  there  are”,  and  the  Caltech  lab  is  “really  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  field”,  having  “the  most  promising”  set-­‐ups/devices  “in  the  world”—“it  was  extremely  natural  to  start  collaborating  with  Caltech”.    Conversely  the  Caltech  lab  and  experimental  physicists  at  Yale  and  other  laboratories,  at  the  request  of  the  DARPA  ORCHID  Program  Director,  actually  selected  this  particular  set  of  theoretical  physicists,  for  their  well-­‐established  reputation  for  collaboration  and  an  ability  to  do  the  calculations  and  modeling  necessary  for  optomechanical  experimentation.      One  of  the  oft-­‐noted  features  of  this  collaboration  has  been  the  respected  and  fairly  active  facilitation  role  performed  by  the  ORCHID  Program  Director  from  the  funding  agency,  DARPA,  who  is  seen  “to  push  the  collaboration”.  For  example,  the  Program  Director  has  convened  periodic  teleconferences  among  the  theoretical  physicists  to  promote  and  review  their  collaboration.  And,  on  a  semi-­‐annual  basis,  the  Program  Director  leads  a  thorough  review  of  the  overall  ORCHID  program,  bringing  together  members  of  the  theoretical  and  experimentalist  groups,  faculty  and  graduate  students.      Key  Deliberations9  The  nature  of  these  scientific  collaborations  becomes  even  more  evident  through  understanding  the  key  deliberations  involved  in  achieving  this  type  of  fundamental  research  project.    For  example,  a  key  deliberation  topic  arising  continuously  during  Phase  One  of  the  ORCHID  project  is  the  Selection  of  what  Experiment(s)  to  run.  This  deliberation  also  illustrates  the  significance  of  serendipity  that  often  surfaces  in  collaborations  such  as  this  one  between  the  perspectives  of  theoretical  and  experimental  physics.      In  one  instance,  a  graduate  student  associated  with  the  German  theorists  took  note  of  experimental  data  that  his  Caltech  colleagues  had  generated  quite  by  chance.    They  were  inclined  to  discount  the  data  as  an  “artifact”.    However,  to  the  German  student  this  data  was  indicative  of  an  “interesting”  optomechanical  effect  that  had  been  predicted  by  theoretical  physicists,  although  the  same  theory  suggested  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  achieve  such  an  effect  experimentally.    Once  Caltech  physicists  were  informed  and  persuaded  by  this  theoretical  understanding,  a  new  experiment  was  devised,  and  the  predicted  effects  were  then  effectively  demonstrated.      Among  the  experimentalists,  there  have  already  been  examples  of  joint  participation  in  deliberations  involved  with  the  detailed  Design  of  Experiments  within  ORCHID,  both  in  terms  of  procedures  and  equipment  design.  The  most  complex  example  of  a  sub-­‐topic  in  this  type  of  deliberation  involved  the  challenge  of  what  and  how  to  redesign  in  order  to                                                                                                                  9  “Deliberations  are  patterns  of  exchange  and  communication  in  which  people  engage…to  reduce  the  equivocality  of  a  problematic  issue”;  Pava,  Calvin,  1983,  Managing  New  Office  Technology,  The  Free  Press,  New  York,  N.Y.,  p.58.  

achieve  a  match  between  the  wavelength  characteristics  of  the  optomechnical  device  fabricated  at  Caltech,  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  wavelength  of  the  light  source  to  be  utilized  in  experiments  to  be  run  in  the  Austrian  laboratory.      A  related  deliberation  topic  has  been  the  Design  of  Measurement—what  to  measure  and  how  to  measure—where  once  again,  the  combination  of  theoretical  and  experimental  perspectives  has  been  very  helpful.    Within  the  process  of  actually  implementing  a  specific  experimental  design  or  fabricating  a  specific  device,  there  are  inevitably  multiple  problem-­‐solving  iterations.  In  one  instance,  a  Caltech  graduate  student  spent  6  months  “putting  out  fires”  in  trying  to  develop  just  one  experiment  that  had  a  wide  variety  of  issues  ranging  from  inaccuracies  in  certain  sensing  equipment  to  inconsistencies  in  the  production  of  the  optomechanical  crystal  device  itself.  During  these  trouble-­‐shooting  deliberations  within  the  experiment  conducted  at  Caltech,  the  experience  and  perspective  provided  by  members  of  the  Austrian  laboratory  were  key.    Other  deliberations  for  both  the  theoretical  and  experimental  physicists  have  involved  more  logistical  topics,  such  as  the  timing  and  coordination  for  the  transport  of  optomechanical  devices  between  Caltech  and  the  Austrian  laboratory,  the  allocation  of  staff  resources  (i.e.  specific  graduate  students  or  lab  technicians)  to  work  on  specific  theoretical  questions  or  to  develop  specific  experiments,  or  even  the  “partitioning”  of  research  questions  among  the  theorists  for  particular  study  by  each  of  their  respective  groups.      In  the  way  that  the  various  physicists  have  described  these  deliberations,  it  is  apparent  that  a  particular  deliberation  topic  could  not  only  re-­‐cycle  in  a  non-­‐linear  fashion,  (for  example,  the  ‘choice  point’  of  whether  to  run  a  particular  experiment),  but  it  might  also  carry  on  over  an  extended  period  of  time,  with  substantial  lapses  or  “incubation”  time  in-­‐between  communications—“it’s  a  constant  re-­‐evaluation;  where  do  you  want  to  put  your  effort?”        Communications  The  choice  and  use  of  communication  media  are  central  factors  in  the  functioning  of  research  networks  or  virtual  organizations  because  deliberations  are  patterns  of  exchange  and  communication  to  resolve  issues  of  equivocality  in  knowledge  work  processes.  Nevertheless,  to  maintain  communication  between  two  geographically  separated  scientific  groups  has,  in  the  view  of  the  Orchid  project  participants,  required  “enormous  effort”.  Furthermore,  within  the  Orchid  project  experience,  there  appear  to  be  certain  patterns,  whereby  different  modes  of  communication  seem  to  have  come  into  play  at  different  stages  of  specific  deliberations  and  within  the  overall  research  process.      One  pattern  that  has  been  common  for  both  the  experimental  and  theoretical  physicists  is  that  “a  lot  of  the  collaboration  really  goes  on  via  email”,  exchanging  documents  or  experimental  results  without  the  expectation  of  instant  response.    Email  as  a  communication  mode  allows  contemplation  and  preparation  for  what  is  very  often  a  next  step  in  the  deliberation,  namely,  one  or  more  synchronous  Skype  conversations  or  teleconferences  to  discuss  and  make  “sense”  of  the  shared  information.  Sometimes,  a  “screen-­‐sharing”  feature  has  been  utilized  to  supplement  this  ‘sense-­‐making’.  Sometimes,  Google-­‐Plus  has  also  been  used,  particularly  by  some  of  the  graduate  students,  to  supplement  email.    

Skype  calls  have  had  another  use,  distinct  from  email  exchanges,  for  what  some  ORCHID  participants  term  “strategic  decisions”,  for  example,  weighing  options  about  if  and  when  to  run  a  certain  experiment,  or  whether  or  not  to  allocate  additional  resources  to  a  specific  aspect  of  the  project.  The  visual  as  well  as  audio  capability  of  Skype  calls  has  also  enabled  ORCHID  participants  to  sit  in  pairs  or  threesomes  around  a  computer  and  use  Skype  (only  very  occasionally)  as  a  means  to  hold  a  modified  form  of  videoconference,  rather  than  use  a  more  elaborate,  specialized  video  conferencing  technology.      In  fact,  most  teleconferences  seem  to  have  involved  pairs  or  trios  of  (distributed)  ORCHID  participants,  rather  than  the  larger  group  ‘gatherings’  for  project  teleconferences  that  might  have  been  contemplated  at  the  outset  of  the  Caltech-­‐based  ORCHID  project.  Virtual  large  group  ‘gatherings’  of  diverse  faculty  and  graduate  students  have  proven  to  be  an  overwhelming  organizational  challenge.  One  of  the  principles  of  virtual  communication  that  seems  to  be  foremost  in  the  ORCHID  project  context  is  that  communication  technology  and  procedures  need  to  be  “simple  and  robust”  or  they  will  not  get  used.      Some  of  the  ORCHID  project  members  have  participated  in  videoconferences  within  other  research  networks,  and  there  are  now  plans  in  the  forthcoming  year  for  both  the  Caltech  lab  and  the  Austrian  lab  to  utilize  newly  installed  videoconference  facilities,  particularly  as  the  need  will  increase  for  inter-­‐group  discussions  and  interpretation  of  a  growing  amount  of  data  from  the  intense  period  of  experimentation  in  the  Austrian  lab.      Nevertheless,  most  of  the  ORCHID  project  participants  would  claim  that  much  of  the  most  significant  progress  has  been  made  in  the  research  process  when  there  has  been  the  opportunity  for  face-­‐to-­‐face  (F2F)  communication  between  members  of  these  geographically  dispersed  scientific  groups.  For  example,  the  ‘idea’  for  this  scientific  collaboration  “all  started”  through  a  series  of  F2F  meetings  at  Caltech  and  conferences  involving  faculty  and  graduate  students  from  the  Caltech  and  Austrian  laboratories.  And  now,  these  scientists  who  are  now  collaborating  within  the  ORCHID  project  renew  their  F2F  contact,  at  scientific  conferences  to  which  they  are  invited  several  times  a  year,  as  well  as  at  the  semi-­‐annual  ORCHID  Program  review  meetings  convened  by  DARPA.    Similarly,  within  the  early  months  of  the  ORCHID  project,  the  ‘theory’  team  worked  entirely  at  a  distance  from  the  experimentalists,  studying  research  papers  and  slides  presented  at  the  ORCHID  program  launch,  in  order  to  make  sense  of  “where  the  experimentalists  were  going”,  and  “what  questions  would  be  important  to  the  success  of  their  experiments”.  However,  “in  terms  of  real  [theoretical]  research  being  conducted…the  most  impressive  example”  occurred  when  the  leader  of  the  German  school  of  Theoretical  Physics  sent  one  of  his  graduate  students  to  work  for  5  consecutive  months  in  the  Micro  &  Nano-­‐Photonics  lab  at  Caltech.  During  this  period,  the  graduate  student  (linked  by  frequent  Skype  and  email  communication  with  his  German  colleagues)  was  “able  to  give  real  time  suggestions  to  the  experimentalists  on  what  they  should  be  measuring”  or  quickly  to  interpret  experimental  data  that  “it  would  have  taken  [the  experimentalists]  a  long  time  to  figure  out”.    Another  example  of  this  type  of  “embedded  researcher”  was  the  graduate  student  from  the  Austrian  laboratory  who  came,  quite  by  chance,  to  Caltech  for  5  weeks  in  September-­‐October  2010,  when  it  so  happened  the  project  was  experiencing  an  unfortunate  delay  in  development  of  the  optomechanical  device  and  experimental  design  intended  for  use  in  the  

Austrian  laboratory.  By  all  accounts,  this  graduate  student  and  his  colleagues  in  Austria  could  not  have  been  nearly  as  helpful  with  expediting  this  key  experimental  design,  without  his  physical  presence  and  F2F  communication  with  the  Caltech  scientists.  In  the  words  of  the  Austrian  graduate  student:  “it’s  very  hard  to  really  get  on  the  same  page  and  really  understand  what  the  other  one  means  if  you  don’t  see…the  design,  see  how  the  people  work…I  wasn’t  really  aware  of  how  different  the  experiments  were  [in  Caltech]  than  in  Vienna.  And,  we  just  had  to  merge  those  two  different  approaches  together.”      From  late  2010  to  March  2011,  this  graduate  student  continued  his  F2F  contact  with  Caltech,  traveling  back-­‐and-­‐forth  from  Austria,  transporting  various  prototypes  of  the  optomechanical  device  for  test  runs  in  Austria,  and  since  March  2011,  he  has  begun  a  two-­‐year  post-­‐doctoral  assignment  with  the  Caltech  Nano-­‐Photonics  Group.  During  2011  and  2012  of  Phase  Two  of  the  ORCHID  project,  he  joined  Caltech  graduate  students  in  periodic  visits  to  the  Austrian  laboratory  where  they  have  taken  the  refined  optomechanical  crystal  device  and  worked  with  the  University  of  Vienna  staff  to  set-­‐up  the  actual  experimentation,  now  successfully  underway  in  Austria  “with  a  full-­‐blown  structure  fully  operational  and  completely  unique”.  Without  this  F2F  contact  by  this  second  “embedded  researcher”,  the  general  opinion  is  that  this  experimental  design  “would  have  been  worked  out,  but  it  would  just  have  taken  much  longer”.        ANALYSIS/CONCLUSIONS:    Researchers  know  that    “technology-­‐mediated  interactions…complement  face-­‐to-­‐face  interactions”  in  virtual  settings.  Dixon  and  Pantelli  (2010)  documented  this  in  their  study  of  a  UK  government-­‐funded  program  establishing  a  ‘virtual  centre  of  excellence’  for  technology  development10.    In  the  ORCHID  project  experience  much  of  the  face-­‐to-­‐face  interaction  actually  occurred  by  happenstance,  and  for  periods  of  time  longer  than  typical  for  graduate  student  exchanges.    These  factors  raise  questions  and  may  also  provide  answers  about  the  nature  and  dynamics  of  this  complementarity  of  communication  media  in  virtual  settings.    More  to  the  point  they  raise  questions  and  may  also  provide  answers  about  how  this  dynamic  works  in  fundamental  research  collaborations.  The  project  participants  interviewed  generally  acknowledge  that  email,  videoconference,  or  any  of  the  technology-­‐mediated  forms  of  communication  “work  best  when  you  already  have  an  idea  of  where  you  want  to  go”,  with  a  particular  work  process  question  or  research  topic.      So,  determining  the  direction  or  strategies  of  a  project  may  require  concentrated  F2F  communication.  Some  of  the  ORCHID  participants  commented  that  this  is  most  apparent  “in  the  early  stages  of  a  project,  when  things  are  so  confusing…everything  is  so  unclear—you  need  a  lot  of  random  discussions  that  may  lead  to  nowhere…we  just  have  to  talk  again  and  again—it  seems  to  depend  very  much  on  personal  interaction,  the  chance  element.”      This  leads  to  three  inquiries.      

• First,  to  what  extent  is  this  initial  confusion  temporary  and  is  it  only  initially  needed  to  develop  an  understanding  of  each  other  and  ‘get  on  the  same  page’?  

                                                                                                               10  Dixon  and  Pantelli,  2010,  “From  Virtual  Teams  to  Virtuality  in  Teams”,  Human  Relations,  63(8),  pp.  1177-­‐1197)    

• Second,  how  much  is  this  challenge  one  of  “perspective-­‐taking”  among  participants  from  different  disciplines  and  with  diverse  work  practices?11    

• And  third,  in  this  virtual  setting  where  most  of  the  geographically  dispersed  participants  had  not  previously  worked  together,  how  much  of  the  challenge  of  mutual  understanding  involves  trust  and  relationship  building?  

 Taking  these  questions  in  reverse  order,  the  answer  from  Caltech  participants  and  from  the  two  “embedded”  European  researchers,  is  that  it  has  been  “very  crucial”  to  work  together,  “eat  lunch,  and  have  coffee  together”,  or  “to  spend  time  together”,  just  “to  get  to  know  each  other”.      These  interactions  make  it  easier  to  “just  get  on  the  same  page”.    Caltech  graduate  students  and  their  “embedded  researcher”  counterparts  have  developed  a  “personal”  friendship  more  than  just  a  “professional”  relationship.    As  a  result,  they  are  “more  willing  to  have  discussions  [with  each  other]  when  [they]  don’t  have  clear,  conclusive  ideas”,  and  are  “more  willing  to  share  data  that  [they]  don’t  understand”—in  their  words,  “we  are  not  as  hesitant  with  each  other”.      These  participants  now  also  speak  in  a  way  that  suggests  they  are  more  tolerant  or  open  to  some  national  “cultural  differences”  between  the  scientific  groups.    Such  differences  could  otherwise  have  been  serious  “discontinuities”  in  the  collaboration,  especially  given  the  delays  that  have  occurred  with  various  pieces  of  work  in  this  project,  disrupting  coordination  between  laboratories.    One  Caltech  graduate  student  gave  this  example:    “when  the  German  scientists  say  that  they  will  have  a  result  ready  in  4  months,  it  is  ready  in  4  months;  whereas  when  Americans  say  that  they  will  have  a  result  in  2  months,  it  often  takes  longer—we  [North  Americans]  over-­‐promise,  while  the  Germans  are  more  cautious”.      Building  respect  and  trust  is  thus  clearly  connected  to  the  second  challenge  of  “perspective-­‐taking”  across  the  disciplines  of  theoretical  and  experimental  physics,  or  across  the  disciplines  of  quantum  optics  and  applied  physics,  and  even  more  particularly,  between  scientists  from  two  laboratories  with  methods  and  equipment  for  experimentation  that  are  “very,  very  different”.    Beyond  this  interpersonal  dimension,  though,  the  process  of  integrating  multi-­‐disciplinary  and  multicultural  perspectives  to  solve  technical  problems  has  required  that  scientists  “actually  sit  together…make  drawings  on  the  blackboard  and  discuss  things…again  and  again”.      The  nature  of  these  conversations  appears  to  closely  resemble  the  use  of  “narrative”  and  “boundary  objects”  cited  by  Boland  &  Tenkasi,  in  their  modeling  of  language  and  cognition  to  assist  in  the  design  of  electronic  communication  systems  for  “communities  of  knowing”  within  and  across  organizational  boundaries.12    Indeed,  some  of  the  ORCHID  project                                                                                                                  11  Boland  &  Tenkasi,  1995,  “Perspective-­‐making  and  perspective-­‐taking  in  communities  of  knowing”,  Organization  Science,  6  (4),  pp.  350-­‐372.    12  Bruner  (1986)  contends  that  rational  analysis  of  data  is  supplemented  by  how  we  construct  stories  or  metaphors  to  make  sense  of  unusual  or  unexpected  events  in  an  interesting  and  believable  way  that  fits  with  our  particular  cultural  field.  Similarly,  Star  (1989,  1993)  has  observed  how  a  picture,  map  or  diagram  can  provide  a  visible  representation  of  one’s  thinking  and  becomes  a  “boundary  object”  that  makes  one’s  knowledge  available  for  analysis  with  another  individual  or  scientific  community.    

participants  agree  that  this  kind  of  interdisciplinary  problem-­‐solving  discussion  is  definitely  “possible  at  a  distance,  over  the  internet,  on  a  [video  or  tele]  conference  call  where  you  can  just  draw  things…But  it’s  not  as  efficient  as  if  you  come  for  a  week  or  two  and  just  sit  together  and  just  concentrate  on  one  thing.”    Nevertheless,  the  two  “embedded  researchers”  have  continued  to  perform  within  the  ORCHID  project  a  function  with  respect  to  colleagues  in  their  ‘home’  scientific  groups  that  is  very  similar  to  what  Boland  &  Tenkasi  refer  to  as  “semiotic  brokers”.13    Knowing  the  ‘language’  and  the  capabilities  of  the  Caltech  lab,  they  have  been  able  to  establish  a  liaison  or  “straddler”  role14  ‘translating’  and  expediting  communication  between  the  Caltech  staff,  the  theory  team,  and  staff  associated  with  the  Austrian  experimental  lab.    From  the  perspective  of  the  European  leaders  of  the  ORCHID  project,  this  linking  role  has  been  “absolutely  essential”.  Without  this  role,  and  without  it  being  performed  effectively,  graduate  students  in  one  or  more  of  the  labs  would  lose  interest  and  engagement  with  the  project.  Critical  opportunities  to  focus  the  research  would  be  missed  or  adjustments  would  not  be  made.  Unlike  a  situation  where  the  two  lab  groups  might  have  been  co-­‐located,  in  this  case  of  a  trans-­‐Atlantic  collaboration,  regular  and  spontaneous  meetings  to  critique  progress  don’t  happen  easily,  given  all  of  the  local  distractions  and  priorities  that  take  over  one’s  attention”.      To  the  first  question  about  how  ‘temporary’  the  need  is  for  F2F  communication  in  this  work,  the  perception  expressed  by  many  of  the  ORCHID  participants  is  that  there  is  a  general  “threshold”  or  set  of  constraints  associated  with  a  phone  call,  videoconference,  etc.    Part  of  this  perception,  even  for  many  of  the  younger  Millennial  generation  graduate  students,  is  that  there  is  “a  raft  of  minor  issues”—audio  noise,  crossing  over  from  one  information  source  to  another,  time  zone  issues—“that  all  add  up  to  make  virtual  communication  less  appealing,  not  as  easy  for  most  complex  problem-­‐solving”.      More  important,  though,  is  that  F2F  enables  “a  non-­‐restricted  occasion,  meaning  there  is  no  phone  that  when  you  hang  up,  the  person  is  gone…[no]  1-­‐hour  time  slot  for  a  phone  call…you  just  are  around…there  is  the  possibility  to  interact  24  hours  in  principle”.  Thus,  what  is  seen  to  be  lacking  with  electronic  communication  media  is  “intensity  and  spontaneity”  that  these  scientists  contend  are  vital  when  “developing  new  ideas,  new  directions—about  the  experiment,  and  so  on”.    In  science,  “there’s  this  random-­‐chance  occurring  of  ideas…you  chat  about  a  lot  of  different  topics,  and  then,  somehow  the  germ  of  a  new  idea  comes  up”  whereas    “teleconferences  don’t  happen  by  chance”.    Or,  as  another  Caltech  scientist  expressed  the  dilemma,  without  opportunities  for  F2F  communication,  “Eureka  moments  won’t  happen”.  Along  with  this  spontaneity,  there  needs  also  to  be  the  “pressure”  or  “intensity”  of  “constant  exchange”  because  in  “generating  new  ideas,  you  always  have  an  incubation  time”.                                                                                                                    13  Lyotard  (1984)  refers  to  the  important  role  of  agents  that  help  to  translate  and  integrate  the  representation  of  concepts.    14  Heeks  et  al.,  2001,  “Synching  or  Sinking:  Global  Software  Outsourcing  Relationships”,  IEEE  Software,  March/April  2001,  p.59.  

The  question  remains  whether  this  need  for  F2F  communication  to  help  generate  “new  ideas,  new  directions”  exists  primarily  or  solely  at  the  beginning  of  a  fundamental  research  project  like  ORCHID?  Perhaps,  it  is  so  for  projects  more  on  the  ‘Development’  side  of  the  R&D  spectrum.  For  fundamental  research,  however,  that  has  as  its  core  objective  to  generate  ‘breakthrough’  concepts,  knowledge,  and  experimental  data,  it  seems  more  likely  from  the  experience  of  the  ORCHID  project  over  its  extended  period  of  three  years,  that  there  is  a  rhythmic  cycle  moving  from  one  ‘unknown’  through  to  discovery  of  ‘known’  results  that  evoke  their  own  new  questions  and  definition  of  a  new  ‘unknown’  followed  by  a  further  search  for  ‘findings’.  In  the  words  of  the  European  science  leader  for  ORCHID,  “in  fundamental  research,  one  never  knows  in  which  direction  research  is  taking  you—new  opportunities  and  new  challenges  are  continually  opening  up”.  Indeed,  the  experience  of  the  ORCHID  project  has  persuaded  this  European  scientist  that  timely,  periodic  F2F  communication  is  vital  in  virtual  scientific  collaborations  involving  fundamental  research.      F2F  communication  within  the  virtual  organization  of  the  ORCHID  project  may  have  additional  importance.  Findings  from  the  study  of  other  virtual  teams  suggest  that  they  have  a  need  for  “deep  temporal  rhythms  of  interaction”,  with  “face-­‐to-­‐face  meetings…as  a  heartbeat,  rhythmically  pumping  new  life  into  the  team’s  processes”.  The  goal  is  “to  draw  team  members  together…to  connect,  couple,  and  integrate  team  members  so  that  they  communicate  more  effectively.”15      In  this  ORCHID  project,  the  process  of  drawing  people  together  began  early  and  continued  into  the  virtual  setting.    Early  F2F  communication  was  combined  with  the  unique  and  very  powerful  motivation  that  the  dispersed  parties  seem  to  have  for  this  collaboration.    The  science  leaders  of  the  ORCHID  project  “had  talked  to  each  other  a  lot  of  times  before  starting  this  program”,  and  “it  helps  that  a  program  like  ORCHID  is  very  focused  on  one  topic”  of  vital  interest  to  all  the  relevant  scientific  groups.    Indeed,  the  speculation  of  at  least  one  experienced  research  scientist  in  the  ORCHID  project  is  that  success  in  such  multi-­‐university  research  “does  not  depend  so  much  on  technical  difficulties  in  collaboration,  but  more  on  motivation”.    A  strong  motivation  can  combine  with  the  intensity  of  relationship  building,  F2F  or  virtually,  to  enhance  and  support  deliberations  across  multidisciplinary  and  geographic  boundaries.      

                                                                                                               15  Maznevski  and  Chudoba,  2000,  Bridging  Space  Over  Time:  Global  Virtual  Team  Dynamics  and  Effectiveness,  Organization  Science,  11  (5),  pp.  473-­‐492.      

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   APPENDIX  1:  METHODOLOGY    During  the  late  spring  of  2010,  the  VOSS  research  team  opened  discussions  with  Caltech’s  Micro  &  Nano  Photonics  Research  Group  in  the  Applied  Physics  department.  This  research  group  had  previously  agreed  and  formally  expressed  an  interest  to  participate  as  a  site  in  he  VOSS  project.  However,  a  preliminary  ‘scoping’  discussion  was  required  to  determine  the  most  appropriate  multi-­‐university  research  activity  to  focus  upon  for  this  VOSS  study.    After  ‘kick-­‐off’  of  the  ORCHID  program  at  a  meeting  of  the  various  research  teams  from  Caltech,  Yale,  etc.,  held  in  Santa  Barbara,  CA  in  June  2010,  preparations  for  the  eventual  experimentation  began  slowly  both  at  Caltech  and  at  the  University  of  Vienna  Quantum  Optics  Group.    Preparations  were  complicated  by  the  need  to  coordinate  the  planning  of  what  research  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  between  two  laboratories  that  operated  with  very  different  equipment  and  methodologies.  Hence,  it  was  not  until  the  spring  of  2011  that  the  ORCHID  project  Principal  Investigator  signaled  to  the  VOSS  research  team  that  it  was  timely  to  hold  the  first  of  a  series  of  (one  hour)  teleconference  interviews  to  review  the  project’s  progress.      In  the  summer  of  2011,  one  member  of  the  VOSS  team  made  a  visit  to  the  Caltech  laboratories  and  conducted  face-­‐to-­‐face  interviews  with  the  Principal  Investigator  and  with  two  of  the  graduate  students  involved  very  substantially  with  the  ORCHID  project.  Plans  were  also  made  at  this  time  for  phone  interviews  (held  in  the  autumn  of  2011)  with  faculty  and  graduate  students  located  at  the  University  of  Vienna  laboratory,  and  with  European  and  Canadian  members  of  the  ORCHID  project  team  of  theoretical  physicists.  It  was  emphasized  by  the  ORCHID  project  Principal  Investigator  that  PhD  students  and  Post-­‐Doctoral  associates  within  each  of  the  laboratories  in  Europe  and  Caltech  were  the  individuals  most  involved  in  the  day-­‐to-­‐day  process  of  this  scientific  collaboration,  and  thus,  would  be  preferred  subjects  for  interviews  in  this  VOSS  study.    Finally,  a  second  round  of  interviews  were  conducted  with  the  leaders  and  selected  members  of  the  ORCHID  project  during  Phase  Two,  in  the  autumn  of  2012.    Overall,  during  an  elapsed  time  period  of  three  years,  approximately  20  (60-­‐90  minute)  interviews  have  been  conducted  in  person  or  by  phone,  involving  two  members  of  the  VOSS  research  team  and  one  subject/participant  of  the  ORCHID  project.    Interviews  have  sought  primarily  to  identify:    

i) perceptions  of  the  nature  and  challenges  of  this  scientific  collaboration  from  the  perspectives  of  the  various  scientific  Groups;    

ii) key  deliberations  (“choice  points”)  in  this  particular  process  of  fundamental  research;  and    

iii) the  qualitative  nature  and  frequency  of  use  associated  with  various  media  of  communication  among  participants  in  the  ORCHID  project.