NEWS

Nicholas Berente

Charles B. Knapp Early-Career Scholar Award 2015

Nicholas Berente, assistant professor of management information systems, is a rising star in his field, leading a number of interdisciplinary efforts to fundamentally impact the way large-scale science happens. His research focuses on the way digital innovations are reshaping some of society’s most entrenched institutions and the organizations that comprise them. “Digital innovation” is a term Berente uses to describe everything from smartphones to computers and software to large-scale IT-enabled infrastructures. His work in the social sciences focuses on the development of computational approaches based on gene sequencing tools from computational biology to better understand organizations. He looks at sequences of organizational activities, or routines, along with the individuals and technologies used in these routines as a sort of “organizational DNA.” This unique approach has allowed Berente to bridge the divide between computer science and information systems, which is likely to be highly beneficial to the nation’s scientific efforts as effective management of organizational resources.