Agencies of Change: The National Science Foundation and Federal Patronage of Biology (History and Philosopy of Science): VPW

这位研究人员正在完成一本关于1945-1975年间国家科学基金会和联邦对生物科学的资助的书，这本书被视为阐明更广泛的科学和公共政策主题的案例研究。现有的研究是一个很好的机构历史，表明在联邦支持科学的多元化系统中，个人决定以及机构动态塑造了NSF对生物学的赞助。为了重塑这份手稿，使其成为科学史上的一部重要著作，需要纳入使用NSF以外的来源的不同观点。需要调查的问题包括：基础研究和应用研究之间以及生物学和医学之间的紧张关系；在联邦资助机构多元化体系的背景下支持基础生物学的战略；与国家卫生研究院的竞争；精英主义与对科学基础设施的支持；以及联邦“科学管理者”的作用。随着过去对机构记录的关注，通过对近代生物史和科学史和教育政策史的新研究，调查员将纳入更广泛的视角。我们将研究生物学的四个领域，每个领域都有不同的联邦支持模式，以解决生物学思想和机构的发展如何与联邦资助模式相关的关键问题，即：(1)分子生物学革命；(2)光合作用；(3)系统生物学；(4)生态学。这一努力是为了将一个在很大程度上基于机构记录的叙述转变为一个案例研究，以阐明更广泛的科学和公共政策主题。因此，在试图将该机构的历史与生物学的历史相结合的过程中，将解决NSF对生物科学有什么不同的问题。该项目进一步推动了VPW项目的目标，为女性提供通过研究提升她们在科学或工程领域的职业生涯的机会，并通过调查人员作为东道主校园榜样的更高知名度，鼓励其他女性在这些领域追求职业生涯。在这个项目中，促进第二个目标的拟议活动包括：教授关于妇女和科学的课程、美国科学社会史和医学史；举办研讨会；结合妇女研究方案组织关于妇女和科学的专题讨论会；在佛罗里达举办关于早期女科学家的展览；以及辅导女学生。

The investigator is completing a book on the National Science Foundation and federal patronage of the biological sciences in the period of 1945-1975, viewed as a case study for the illumination of broader themes on science and public policy. The existing study is a good agency history, showing that individual decisions as well as institutional dynamics have shaped NSF patronage of biology in a pluralistic system of federal support of science. To reshape the manuscript so that it can become a significant work in the history of science, alternative points of view using sources other than NSF need to be incorporated. Among the issues to be investigated are: tensions between basic and applied research and between biology and medicine; strategies of supporting basic biology in the context of a pluralistic system of federal funding agencies; competition with National Institutes of Health; elitism versus support of the infrastructure of science; and the role of federal "science managers." With past concentration on agency records, through new research in the recent history of biology and in the history of science and education policy, the investigator will incorporate a broader range of perspectives. Four areas of biology, each with different patterns of federal support, will be examined in order to address the key issue of how the development of biological ideas and institutions relates to patterns of federal patronage, namely: (1) the revolution in molecular biology; (2) photosynthesis; (3) systematic biology; and (4) ecology. This effort is to transform a narrative heavily based on institutional records into a case study for illumination of broader themes of science and public policy. Thus, in attempting to integrate the agency history with the history of biology, the question of what difference did NSF make to the biological sciences will be addressed. The project furthers VPW program objectives to provide opportunities for women to advance their careers in science or engineering through research, and to encourage other women to pursue careers in these areas through the investigators' enhanced visibility as role models on the host campuses. In this project, the proposed activities which contribute to the second objective include: teaching courses on Women and Science, the Social History of American Science, and the History of Medicine; giving seminars; organizing a symposium on women and science in conjunction with the Women's Studies Program; developing an exhibit on early women scientists in Florida; and counseling women students.