How are material inputs shaping science?
When asked in 1920, "If you had the whole world to choose from, what would you take?" Marie Skłodowska Curie replied, "I need a gram of radium to continue my research, but I cannot buy it; radium is too dear for me."
A century later, modern science is more "capital intensive" than before. The heavy reliance on specialized materials, machines and instruments in turn affects who participates in science, and by extension, how science evolves.
At the 2026 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, we will be co-organizing a symposium to showcase frontier research that studies how capital inputs are shaping the relationship between technicians and scientists (Danielle Bovenberg), between scientists and machines (Raviv Murciano-Goroff), and between university and corporate research (JK Suh).
We will be joined by an all-star panel of Stefano Baruffaldi, Cyrus Mody, Scott Stern, and Florenta Teodoridis, who will light the path toward the following questions:
• What is new about today's scientific enterprise and its reliance on research technologies-including AI?
• How do research tools redistribute expertise and shape the organization of scientific work?
• What effects will the rising costs of scientific inputs from funding cuts and geopolitical fragmentation have on future researchers?
• What is the most important study still waiting to be written on research tools and the organization of science?
Symposium details:
🗓️ August 4, 2026
🕐 9:45–11:15 a.m. ET
📍 Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Second Floor Mezzanine
🔗 Add to your AOM agenda at this link: AOM Symposium Panel 10863
See you soon!
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Jungkyu "JK" Suh
Assistant Professor of Management & Organizations,
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