Doctoral Dissertation Research: Plant-Based Biotechnologies and Petrochemical Security

如果我们停止使用石油，塑料瓶、合成橡胶、甚至牙膏会是什么材料呢？随着人们对化石燃料的可获得性和安全性的日益关注，寻找石油燃料的替代品受到了学术界和公众的极大关注。然而，人们对寻找以石油为基础的化学品的替代品关注较少，这些化学品用于制造大量日常用品。在过去的十年里，一些科学家致力于开发一种石油化学品的替代品：同样是从甘蔗中提取的化学品。这是一类生物技术的一个例子，这些生物技术旨在利用农作物生产一系列产品，即使在十年前也是无法想象的。然而，这些以植物为基础的替代材料是否比以石油为基础的原始材料在社会、环境和经济上更可行，这一问题仍然存在。随着美国和其他国家继续在这种生物技术和替代制造研究上投入数百万美元，了解哪些社会、历史和经济因素将使以植物为基础的石油替代变得可行将是至关重要的。凯瑟琳·乌尔里希将在莱斯大学安德里亚·巴列斯特罗博士的指导下，探索后石油生物技术发展的社会、经济和历史层面。研究将在巴西圣保罗进行，在过去的十年里，那里分配了史无前例的科学资金用于甘蔗产品开发。这也是一个特别值得注意的研究背景，因为巴西是世界上最大的甘蔗生产国，而且这个国家最初是从16世纪开始建立在以奴隶为基础的甘蔗工业基础上的。调查人员将研究圣保罗的甘蔗科学家、国家资助机构和糖厂工人如何构思、开发和实施甘蔗作为石油替代品。调查人员将评估这些参与者在多大程度上理解巴西甘蔗的历史、社会、经济和环境特征，以正面或负面地影响以甘蔗为基础的石油替代品的可行性。调查人员将对甘蔗科学家、资助机构和糖厂工人进行参与式观察、访谈、专题小组和调查。这项研究将增加对生物技术、制造业和农业如何在21世纪以新的方式结合在一起的理解。这项研究的结果将对未来围绕工厂制造实践制定对社会、经济和环境负责任的政策至关重要。此外，这项研究将有助于促进社会科学家和生物学家之间的跨学科合作，目的是更好地了解和向公众传达新生物技术的社会影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

What would plastic bottles, synthetic rubber, and even toothpaste be made of if we stopped using petroleum? With mounting concern over the availability and security of fossil fuels, much scholarly and public attention has been paid to finding alternatives for petroleum-based fuels. However, less attention has been paid to finding alternatives for petroleum-based chemicals, used to manufacture of a vast array of everyday items. In the past decade, some scientists have worked to develop an alternative to petroleum-based chemicals: the same chemicals made from sugarcane. This is one example of a category of biotechnologies aiming to utilize crops to manufacture a wide range of products not imaginable even only a decade ago. Nonetheless, questions remain as to whether these plant-based alternative materials are more socially, environmentally, and economically viable than the petroleum-based originals. As the United States and other countries continue to invest millions of dollars into this kind of biotechnology and alternative manufacturing research, it will be critical to understand what social, historical, and economic factors would make plant-based petroleum replacements feasible. Kathleen Ulrich, under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Ballestero of Rice University, will explore the social, economic, and historical dimensions of post-petroleum biotechnological development. Research will be conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where in the past decade an unprecedented amount of scientific funding has been allocated to sugarcane-based product development. This is also a particularly notable research setting because Brazil is the top producer of sugarcane in the world, and the country was originally built upon the slave-based sugarcane industry starting in the sixteenth century. The investigators will examine how sugarcane scientists, state funding agents, and sugar factory workers in Sao Paulo conceive, develop, and implement sugarcane as a petroleum replacement. The investigators will assess to what extent these actors understand the historical, social, economic, and environmental characteristics of sugarcane in Brazil as positively or negatively impacting the feasibility of making sugarcane-based petroleum replacements. The investigators will carry out participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and surveys among the sugarcane scientists, funding agents, and sugar factory workers. This research will increase understandings of how biotechnology, manufacturing, and agriculture are coming together in new ways in the twenty-first century. Findings from this research will be crucial to formulating socially, economically, and environmentally responsible policies around plant-based manufacturing practices in the future. Furthermore, this research will contribute to efforts to improve cross-disciplinary collaborations between social scientists and biologists with the aim of better understanding and communicating to the public the social implications of new biotechnologies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.