Diana Rhoten

Diana Rhoten is director of the Knowledge Institutions program and the Digital Media and Learning project at the Social Science Research Council. With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Rhoten is leading the Learning Networks project in New York City, which uses a design-driven methodology to help institutions develop collaborative and interactive ways of crafting digital media and learning activities. 

In addition to her role at the Council, Rhoten also spent the last two years as the founding program director of the Virtual Organizations and the CyberLearning programs in the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation. Prior to coming to the Council in 2003, Rhoten was co-founder and research director of the Hybrid Vigor Institute, an assistant professor of international development and education policy at the Stanford University School of Education, and an education policy analyst and advisor on youth development and higher education for the Governor of Massachusetts. 

Rhoten's research focuses on the social and technical conditions as well as the individual and organizational implications of different approaches to knowledge production and dissemination. Much of her recent work concerns the study of interdisciplinary and collaborative practices in science. She is particularly interested in the implications that geographically distributed and intellectually diverse networks pose for traditional institutions -- particularly in light of the many emerging technologies before us.

Recent publications can be found in Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Thesis Eleven, Science, Nature, Research Policy, Journal of Education Policy, and Comparative Education Research. She has also recently completed a co-edited volume entitled Knowledge Matters: The Transformation of Public Research University (with Craig Calhoun; Columbia University, 2010). In addition to publishing scholarly works on the topic, Rhoten works with various organizations on the design, implementation, and assessment of new organizational forms for research and training. Her earlier research focused comparative analyses of educational policies in North and South America, with attention to questions on systemic reform as well as assessment and accountability.

Rhoten was a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (2005 - 2007), an award that honors individuals at the leading edge of science. She has a Ph.D. in social sciences and educational policy and an M.A. in sociology from Stanford University, as well as an M.Ed. from Harvard University and an A.B. from Brown University.