Standard Grant: New Approaches to Interpreting the development of science at the Marine Biological Laboratory

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General Audience SummaryThis project will study the history of biological research at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The goal of the project is to analyze and interpret how biological science has evolved at MBL. The PI and a team of graduate students will spend nine weeks in each of two summers to carry out research on site at MBL, working with scientists serving as volunteer consultants to document and interpret its history. The group has identified four focal areas: embryology, cell biology, neurobiology, and ecosystems/biodiversity. These areas were chosen for several reasons: they are of currently particular strengths at the MBL, they have been identified for further development, and they have particularly rich historical materials available for study. The primary goal is to analyze those materials in the context of other research sources to produce traditional scholarly narratives as well as innovative digital exhibits that interpret the history of biology at MBL. Using an existing repository and developing digital exhibits that bring together and link all the existing information on each defined topic in one place, the project will make research materials and interpretative essays accessible to all users. In addition, the project will train graduate students in ways to bring together traditional historical research with innovative digital and computational methods.Technical SummaryThe team will begin with these driving questions: What biological research has been done at MBL? What research has been done because of MBL? How has that research changed over time, and for what reasons? And how has that research helped shape the history of biology more generally? During two summers working intensely at MBL, the team will address these questions first by collecting, collating, and curating research materials; and then by interpreting and analyzing these materials. The goal is not to produce a standard or complete institutional history but rather to focus on uniquely MBL contributions, looking especially at scientific practices and the way MBL has worked to break down traditional boundaries and transcend disciplines, institutions, and ranks. The research materials as well as the research products will be made available through open access, open source and Creative Commons licensing so that they are sustainable and easily accessible for all. The project builds on strong existing digital and computational infrastructure that provides functionality and sustainability and is part of a large scale digital and computational research system and repository developed with other funding from NSF, Arizona State University, and other sources.