Dashun Wang
Professor of Management and Organizations; Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (courtesy); Director, Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI); Co-Director, Ryan Institute on Complexity; Director, Northwestern Innovation Institute
When Experts Pivot, They Pay a Price
“It’s not like we can’t enter a new area and hit a home run, but there’s just a far, far lower chance of that happening.”
Researchers: Ryan Hill, Dashun Wang, Benjamin F. Jones and and coauthors
May 28, 2025
Policymakers Are Relying on Science More Than Ever
But there’s little common ground in the research that Republicans and Democrats cite.
Researchers: Alexander C. Furnas, Timothy M. LaPira and Dashun Wang
April 24, 2025
AI Is Revolutionizing Science. Are Scientists Ready?
AI’s influence has already spread to nearly every discipline. But fully harnessing its impact will require better training for researchers.
Researchers: Jian Gao and Dashun Wang
October 11, 2024
Podcast: Can Complexity Science Help Us Understand Organizations?
On this episode of The Insightful Leader: From climate change to neuroscience, this new approach is reshaping how we study complicated systems.
Researchers: Benjamin F. Jones, Brian Uzzi and Dashun Wang
February 20, 2024
Organizations Are Complex. Complexity Science Can Help Us Understand Them.
You can’t study the behavior of a flock by looking at individual birds. It’s time to bring that holistic approach to the social sciences, too.
Researchers: Benjamin F. Jones, Brian Uzzi and Dashun Wang
February 12, 2024
How the Metaverse Could Shape Science
Augmented reality has the potential to solve old problems—and introduce new ones. Is it time to establish guardrails?
Researchers: Diego Gómez-Zará, Peter Schiffer and Dashun Wang
June 21, 2023
Take 5: What We’ve Learned about Tackling Public-Health Crises
Covid-era research sheds light on how policymakers can guide the economy and the public through future emergencies.
Researchers: Scott R. Baker, Efraim Benmelech, Paola Sapienza, Angela Y. Lee, Benjamin F. Jones, Ryan Hill, Dashun Wang and and coauthors
January 21, 2023
Take 5: How to Improve the Odds of Breakthrough Innovation
Thorny problems demand novel solutions. Here’s what it takes to move beyond incremental tweaks.
Researchers: Sara Moreira, Dimitris Papanikolaou, Niko Matouschek, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, Dashun Wang, Benjamin F. Jones and and coauthors
August 26, 2022
Does the Public Benefit from the Scientific Research It Funds?
A new study quantifies how U.S. taxpayer-funded research is used in patents, media, and policy decisions.
Researchers: Yin Yin, Yuxiao Dong, Kuansan Wang, Dashun Wang and Benjamin F. Jones
July 7, 2022
Take 5: How to Become an Expert in Something New
Turns out, there’s a “special sauce” that can help you get there. But expertise can also come with a curse.
Researchers: Jan A. Van Mieghem, Brian Uzzi, Luis Rayo, Lu Liu, Jillian Chown, Dashun Wang, Matthew D. Rocklage, Derek D. Rucker, Loran Nordgren and Steven Franconeri
October 25, 2021
What Triggers a Career Hot Streak?
New research reveals a recipe for success.
Researchers: Lu Liu, Nima Dehmamy, Jillian Chown, C. Lee Giles and Dashun Wang
October 4, 2021
How Well Does COVID Public Policy Align with Science?
In an era of misinformation, policy based on “dubious science” could mean a greater loss of life and economic hardship.
Researchers: Yian Yin, Jian Gao, Benjamin F. Jones and Dashun Wang
January 7, 2021
Why Do Some People Succeed after Failing, While Others Continue to Flounder?
A new study dispels some of the mystery behind success after failure.
Researchers: Yian Yin, Yang Wang, James Evans and Dashun Wang
December 2, 2020
Meet Adam, the “Scientist” Who Never Sleeps
An excerpt from the book The Science of Science shows how robots may soon be able to run their own experiments—from start to finish.
Researchers: Dashun Wang and Albert-László Barabási
November 17, 2020
The Pandemic Has Slashed Scientists’ Productivity
The extent varies a good deal by field, but the single biggest factor is whether a scientist is caring for young children.
Researchers: Kyle R. Myers, Wei Yang Tham, Yian Yin, Nina Cohodes, Jerry G. Thursby, Marie C. Thursby, Peter Schiffer, Joseph T. Walsh, Karim R. Lakhani and Dashun Wang
July 15, 2020
A New Product Release Often Sets Off a Customer Frenzy. But How Long Does It Last?
When consumers replace the old with the new, surprising trends emerge. A new mathematical model can better predict long-term sales.
Researchers: Ching Jin, Chaoming Song, Johannes Bjelland, Geoffrey Canright and Dashun Wang
April 1, 2020
Take 5: The Upside of Failure
A look at the surprising benefits of striking out, and how to make the most of your mistakes.
Researchers: Dashun Wang, Benjamin F. Jones, Yang Wang, Craig Wortmann, Edward (Ned) Smith, Col. Brian Halloran and Eric T. Anderson
February 10, 2020
Early Career Failures Can Make You Stronger in the Long Run
A study of young scientists who were denied grants provides a striking example of why you should never give up.
Researchers: Yang Wang, Benjamin F. Jones and Dashun Wang
October 1, 2019
Nobel Prize Winners—They’re Just Like Us!
The career paths of these elite scientists are surprisingly similar to those of their less accomplished peers.
Researchers: Jichao Li, Yian Yin, Santo Fortunato and Dashun Wang
September 3, 2019
AI and the Social Sciences Used to Talk More. Now They’ve Drifted Apart.
Research shows that the gap between these disciplines is growing, which could make it harder to address social and ethical problems.
Researchers: Morgan R. Frank, Dashun Wang, Manuel Cebrian and Iyad Rahwan
July 1, 2019
Take 5: How to Build a Collaborative Workplace
Simple strategies for reaping the benefits of collaboration.
Researchers: Benjamin F. Jones, J. Keith Murnighan, Leigh Thompson, Brian Uzzi, Jan A. Van Mieghem and Dashun Wang
March 13, 2019
Want to Revolutionize Your Field? You May Need to Rethink the Size of Your Research Team.
Large and small teams produce different types of breakthroughs, according to an analysis of 50 million patents, software products, and academic papers.
Researchers: Lingfei Wu, Dashun Wang and James Evans
February 13, 2019
When You’re Hot, You’re Hot: Career Successes Come in Clusters
Bursts of brilliance happen for almost everyone. Explore the “hot streaks” of thousands of directors, artists and scientists in our graphic.
Researchers: Lu Liu, Yang Wang, C. Lee Giles, Chaoming Song, Roberta Sinatra and Dashun Wang
July 11, 2018
How Innovators Choose Their Next Career Move
There is an overarching pattern in how innovators, like Elon Musk, shift their focus over time.
Researchers: Tao Jia, Dashun Wang and Boleslaw K. Szymanski
August 2, 2017
Using Cell Phone Data to Predict the Next Epidemic
Whom you call is linked to where you travel, which dictates how viruses spread.
Researchers: Pierre Deville, Chaoming Song, Nathan Eagle, Vincent D. Blondel, Albert-László Barabási and Dashun Wang
April 14, 2017
Why a Scientist’s Big Break May Be Just Around the Corner
Researchers, have hope: your most successful paper can occur at any point in your career.
Researchers: Roberta Sinatra, Dashun Wang, Pierre Deville, Chaoming Song and Albert-László Barabási
November 2, 2016
Podcast: Think You Understand Why Ideas Go Viral? Big Data May Change Your Mind
From tweets to scientific discoveries, human behavior is surprisingly predictable.
Researchers: Dashun Wang and Duncan Watts
October 3, 2016
