Russell Funk

Russell Funk is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship group at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, where he holds the Edward and Eleanor Asplin Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Ethical Cultures. His research sits at the intersection of computational social science, network science, and the science of science, with a particular focus on understanding how scientific and technological knowledge evolves. His work has appeared in leading journals including Nature, Nature Human Behavior, Organization Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Management Science. His research on the declining disruptiveness of science and technology has been widely discussed in outlets such as The Economist, The New York Times, and The Atlantic.

As a scholar bridging multiple disciplines, Funk has developed innovative methodological approaches for studying complex systems. He has made significant contributions to the measurement of technological change and scientific progress, including the development of new network-based metrics that have been adopted by researchers worldwide. His work has been supported by major grants from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Wellcome Leap Foundation, and he has received numerous awards for his research, including recognition from the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management, and the Information Systems Society.

Beyond his research, Funk is deeply engaged in advancing computational approaches to social science. He serves as an Associate Editor at Management Science and on the editorial boards of Organization Science and Administrative Science Quarterly. He has developed and teaches courses in computational social science and research methods, making his course materials openly available to the broader research community. His current work focuses on applying topological data analysis and other advanced computational methods to understand the structure and evolution of scientific knowledge, while also examining how organizational and institutional factors shape innovation in both academic and healthcare settings.