Dissertation Grant: The Seafloor and Society: How Technological Development on the Ocean Floor Transformed North America

该奖项支持博士论文研究，这些研究将导致二十世纪和二十一世纪东北太平洋固定海底基础设施的首批历史之一。分析将特别侧重于三类海底产业的历史发展，这三类产业已成为现代社会大部门不可或缺的组成部分：近海石油钻探(提供全球约30%的石油供应)、海底光缆(为95%的互联网和国际电话通信提供便利)以及海底观测站(使用最先进的科学仪器收集数据，有助于陆地社会应对地震和海啸)。研究人员将利用STS、环境史和海洋科学的见解来重新思考人们对海洋的普遍看法，并说明技术和社会联系的新闻方式。该项目的成果将有助于更好地了解海底基础设施在多大程度上支持岸上社会，以及因自然灾害、环境崩溃或冲突而丧失这些社会的可能后果。它们将向学术和公众受众传播，包括在STS期刊上发表一篇同行评议的文章，并介绍一篇会议论文。这篇博士论文将是一本书手稿的第一次迭代，随后将由一家主要的学术出版社出版。该项目的成果还将用于开发面向公众的艺术展，并将融入各种大学课程和公共讲座。这一海底基础设施史研究项目将汇集、参与和贡献三个关键研究领域：科学技术研究、海洋环境历史和海洋科学。这些领域中的每一个都曾将海洋技术创新与海洋科学的进步联系起来。这一研究项目将表明，早期开发固定海底技术是支持陆上基础设施发展的需要的结果，而不一定是对海底的科学知识的结果，这意味着尖端技术的发展先于对其所处环境的科学知识。它还将探讨陆上社会对复杂的海底基础设施的依赖程度，反之亦然；它承诺打破海洋与陆地之间以及看不见的海底环境与现代通信、政策、政府领土和自然资源发展之间的明显障碍。最后，它将表明，海床是二十一世纪技术和地缘政治发展最重要的前沿之一；它对全球资源开采、电信和海洋科学至关重要。除了上述三个研究领域的学者外，这项研究的结果将引起工业界、政府人员和公众的极大兴趣。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。

This award supports doctoral dissertation research that will lead to one of the first histories of fixed seafloor infrastructure in the Northeast Pacific Ocean during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The analysis will focus specifically on the historical development of three types of seafloor industries that have become indispensable to large sectors of modern society: offshore oil drilling (provides about 30% of the globe’s supply of oil), undersea cables (facilitates 95% of all Internet and international phone traffic), and seafloor observatories (employs scientific instruments at the forefront of collecting data that can help to prepare onshore society for earthquakes and tsunamis). The researcher will use insights from STS, environmental history, and marine science to rethink common perceptions of the ocean and illustrate news way that technologies and societies are connected. The results of this project will promote a better understanding of the extent to which seafloor infrastructures support onshore societies and of the likely consequences of their loss due to natural disasters, environmental collapse, or conflict. They will be disseminated to both academic and public audiences, including the publication of a peer-reviewed article in a STS journal, and the presentation of a conference paper. The doctoral dissertation will be a first iteration of a book manuscript to be published subsequently by a major academic press. The results of this project will also be used to develop an art exhibit for the general public; and they will be integrated into various university courses and public lectures.This research project on the history of seafloor infrastructures will bring together, engage with, and contribute to three key areas of research: science and technology studies, marine environmental history, and marine science. Each of these fields have previously correlated technological innovation in the ocean with advancements in marine science. This research project will show that the early development of fixed seafloor technology was the result of the need to support the growth of onshore infrastructure and not necessarily an outcome of scientific knowledge of the seafloor, meaning that the development of cutting-edge technology preceded scientific knowledge of the environment in which it was installed. It will also explore the extent to which onshore society has become dependent on a complex seafloor infrastructure, and vice versa; it promises to break down perceived barriers between ocean and land and between unseen seafloor environments and the development of modern communications, policies, government territories, and natural resources. Finally, it will show that the seabed is one of the most vital frontiers for technological and geopolitical development in the twenty-first century; it is critical to global resource extraction, telecommunications, and marine science. The results of this study will be of substantial interest to industry, governmental personnel, and the general public, in addition to academics in the three research areas indicated above.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.