Jason Koski/University Photography

Ken Roberts, the Robert S. Harrison Director of the Institute for the Social Sciences, in his White Hall office.

Ken Roberts views his main task as the new director of the Institute for the Social Sciences (ISS) as bringing together researchers with similar interests from various disciplines who otherwise might not meet. He's got ample experience doing just that, as co-leader of an ISS theme project now in its third year.

So far the Contentious Knowledge project has linked social scientists and natural scientists in areas from history to crop and soil sciences to collective bargaining, with 116 affiliates in more than 30 departments. Together the scholars are doing cutting-edge research on why some expertise on such controversial topics as global warming becomes authoritative, whereas other expertise raises storms of social protest and political conflict. The research covers a range of subjects, from debates about genetically modified foods in developing countries to the impact of think tanks on U.S. public policy.

The experience has given Roberts, a government professor, a sense of the challenges -- logistical, conceptual, theoretical and methodological -- that future teams face in bringing scholars together, he said.

"The collaboration can be quite stimulating and enriching -- that's why the ISS does it," he said. "But it isn't always easy to find the right intersection where team members learn from each other, rather than talk past one another. But I think it is the key to the success of our collaborative and interdisciplinary research."

Roberts began his three-year term as the ISS's Robert S. Harrison Director in January. He took over from management professor Elizabeth "Beta" Mannix, who is now vice provost for equity and inclusion. With the ISS in its fifth year, Roberts is responsible for theme projects, which each last for three years, as well as programs offering small grants and supporting research fellows.

"Ken complements the research methodologies and disciplines of the two former directors -- Beta and myself," said David Harris, the institute's first director and now deputy provost and vice provost for the social sciences. "I look forward to seeing how he will develop the ISS in the years to come."

Originally from Ohio, Roberts earned a Ph.D. at Stanford in 1992. He taught political science and Latin American studies at the University of New Mexico for 13 years before arriving at Cornell in 2005. An expert in Latin American politics, he specializes in the politics of inequality in the Andean region and the roles low-income groups play in political parties and in labor and social movements.

As director, Roberts will continue the ISS's support of projects that have the potential to pave the way for interdisciplinary social sciences research at Cornell, he says. For example, the Evolving Family theme project, which ran from 2004 to 2007, led to the creation of the Cornell Population Program, an intellectual hub for demographic research and training at Cornell.

"We're not building new research areas," Roberts said. "We're investing in areas where there are already strengths, but where, with some additional investments, we can make the leap into leadership in the field."