Auster Center for Applied Innovation Research

The Auster Center for Applied Innovation Research (AIR) is dedicated to advancing our understanding of how innovation, particularly technology innovation or innovations that are touched by technology, can be fostered, translated, and applied to do good in the world. The AIR Center at Tufts Gordon Institute supports and funds Tufts faculty and students to conduct research to explore novel ways to solve wicked problems and achieve impact through applied innovation. The work of the AIR Center at Tufts Gordon Institute will establish Tufts University’s thought leadership in Applied Innovation Research.

The AIR Center at Tufts Gordon Institute focuses on four objectives:

1. Initiating and executing applied innovation research with a focus on forward-looking research that influences how leaders and organizations might act in the future, rather than backward-looking research that solely focuses on analyzing what happened in the past.
2. Launching a grant program to stimulate transdisciplinary applied innovation research, soliciting proposals from across Tufts University.
3. Supporting undergraduate research opportunities, where undergraduates can receive grant money to join summer innovation research projects with faculty members.
4. Building industry partnerships to provide both sources of innovation challenges as well as partners to co-create new methods for fostering and translating innovation to impact. 

Director & Auster Professor of the Practice in Applied Innovation, Tufts Gordon Institute, Tufts University School of Engineering

Tufts University seeks an experienced innovator, strategic leader, and high impact doer to be the inaugural Director and Auster Professor of the Practice in Applied Innovation for the Auster Center for Applied Innovation Research (AIR). The new center will be dedicated to advancing our understanding of how innovation, particularly technology innovation or innovations that are touched by technology, can be fostered, translated, and applied to do good in the world. Solving today’s toughest challenges will require innovative transdisciplinary approaches. The Auster Center will be a hub for transdisciplinary applied innovation research catalyzing collaborations of multi-disciplinary teams from across the university. The work of the Center will establish Tufts University’s thought leadership in applied innovation research.

Applied innovation research led by the Auster Center will support deep investigations into new methodologies and approaches for stimulating, incubating, and fostering innovation in the world at large, not just within for-profit organizations, but also non-profits, governments, and non-government entities. Insights and guiding principles gained from the research will guide and accelerate the creation of transformative leaders and organizations, helping them to realize their purpose and maximize their impact through applied innovations.

The Center Director will bring deep experiences successfully driving innovations in large organizations, such as large corporations, as well as experiences leading applied research, from securing external research funding to disseminating research findings, e.g., in peer reviewed journals. As a Professor of the Practice, the Center Director will join Tufts Gordon Institute faculty with an immediate community of over 40 colleagues whose expertise span all phases of an organization’s growth, from early stage to scaling to optimizing to continuous renewal. The Professor of the Practice and Center Director will also join the School of Engineering faculty, a collegial and vibrant community of world-class researchers and educators. The Director will report to Kevin Oye, the Executive Director of Tufts Gordon Institute.

For further information about the Auster Center for Applied Innovation Research, please contact Tufts Gordon Institute at tgi@tufts.edu.