LangeMemo1Revised

hydrogeology || -Semi-structured interviews with hydrologists and funders of hydrology -Scientific journal articles and Newspaper articles to contextualize interviews -Participant observation (possibly) || -How do political economic factors structure the organization of a scientific field? -How does that form organization affect the production of knowledge? -What effect does the changing political status of water (as a right, as a commodity, a national resource, etc.) have on the science of water. || -Water is increasingly important in environmental discussions, in international disputes, development, etc. -The political status of water is increasingly contested. || -I’ve written a few papers about the subject. -I’ve read a fair amount about it. || -I believe that water is a right and that proper understanding and management of water resources is an imperative for human survival in an advanced technological age. -Like a lot of scientists I’ve studied, especially elite scientists, I am a white, middle class, male. Unlike most scientists, I come from a Marxist family which has made me somewhat aware of, and infuriated by, the privileges that white middle class men enjoy. || -STS -Political sociology -Water Studies || NSF Dissertation Improvement, HASS || -Participant observation -Scientific journal articles, Newspaper articles, patent applications, to contextualize the above. || -How do political economic factors structure the organization of a scientific field? -How does that form organization affect the production of knowledge? || -Biotechnology is a tremendous issues at the current historical moment. -In the last 6 or 7 years, political opposition to GM crops has led to their banning in some European, African, and South American states, and I’m interested in how biotech as a field has changed because of such political opposition || I’ve kept up on the news about biotechnology, going on 10 years now, but I’ve never done any research in this area. || I am wary of biotechnology in the way you would expect from a bearded Western lefty type. || -STS -Political Sociology || NSF Dissertation Improvement, NHGRI ** ELSI, ** HASS || -Semi-structured interviews with popular and institutional epidemiologists -Journal articles -Legal briefs -Newspaper articles || How does the introduction of a lay-science into a scientific field affect the relationships between the field’s institutional science and social movements? || There’s been a lot of recent research on popular epidemiology; however, less attention has been paid to work in institutional epidemiology which is influenced by social movements (e.g. the Lancet Studies). || -I’ve read a lot of science journalism and popular science writing about epidemiology. -I’ve read a fair number of journal articles in the field; although never in a systematic way. || Epidemiology is, in many ways, my favorite scientific field, and I am more positively disposed to it than I am to the other sciences I’m looking at studying. || -STS -Sociology of Medicine -Medical Anthropology -Sociology of Social movements || NSF Dissertation Improvement, HASS ||
 * Topical Area || Data Sets || Social Theoretical Questions? || Why Now? || How Prepared? || Bias? || Fields of Work? || Funders? ||
 * The political economy of hydrology/
 * The political economy of biotechnology || -Semi-structured interviews with scientist and funders
 * Comparative sociology of social movements and epidemiologies || -Participant observation with popular and institutional epidemiologists