Simulated adoption of research ideas originating from different universities

High prestige:

Medium prestige:

Low prestige:

Stanford University

University of Colorado, Boulder

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

The network above describes the transition of several thousand Computer Science faculty members from the university where they received their PhD to where they were then hired as faculty. Carried with them were the ideas from their PhD institution, and as a result these ideas were introduced to the hiring universities. In this network, we've run a simulation of the "infection", or adoption, of fixed-quality research ideas originating from universities of high prestige, medium prestige, and low prestige respectively. When an idea originates from a higher-prestige and more central university, it spreads further and faster than from a lower-prestige institution.