Doctoral Dissertation Research: Soil Frontiers: Exploring the Culture and Politics of Soil Microbiology Research

这个项目考察了合作研究网络如何挑战我们研究土壤的方式。当代对土壤的理解集中在它是地球上最具生物多样性和最关键的生态系统之一。这个项目将追踪研究土壤微生物的科学实践是如何推动碳、水、磷和氮的陆地循环的。它将跟踪科学家调查与气候条件、植物病原体和人类药物资源有关的土壤微生物活动。该项目将记录新的研究技术如何帮助科学家设计土壤微生物过程，以应对不断变化的气候条件和土壤问题。该项目将为自然科学家、社会科学家和政策制定者提供见解，以更好地了解具体的土壤科学实践如何为当前土壤健康的优先事项和挑战提供信息。这个研究项目的中心焦点是土壤科学家和生物技术工程师的合作网络。该项目使用人种学策略来追踪土壤微生物学研究的社会和技术基础设施，通过这些基础设施，科学家们将他们对土壤作为生命系统的理解结合起来。它的分析利用了对科学家的采访和在土壤研究环境中的参与者观察所得的定性数据。虽然人类与土壤的相互作用经常在农业背景下进行研究，但这个项目是第一个研究科学家如何在他们的研究实践中构建土壤的新意义和材料的项目之一。土壤微生物组的科学探索有助于绘制生态知识的新前沿。该项目将研究政治和文化转型如何支持人类在快速变化的地球上适应和生存的新可能性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines how networks of collaborative research are challenging the way we study about soils. Contemporary understanding of soil focus on how it is a one of the most biodiverse and critical ecosystems on the planet. This project will trace how scientific practices of studying soil microbes are driving terrestrial cycles of carbon, water, phosphorous, and nitrogen. It will follow scientists as they investigate soil microbial activity in relation to climate conditions, plant pathogens, and medicinal resources for humans. The project will document how novel research techniques are helping scientists design soil microbial processes to respond to changing climate conditions and soil issues. The project will provide insight for natural scientists, social scientists, and policymakers to better understand how specific soil science practices inform current priorities and challenges of soil health.The central focus of this research project is the collaborative networks of soil scientists and biotech engineers. The project uses ethnographic strategies to trace the social and technical infrastructure of soil microbiology research through which scientists assemble their understanding of soils as living systems. Its analysis draws on qualitative data from interviews with scientists and participant observation in soil research settings. While human-soil interactions are often examined in agricultural contexts, this project is among the first to examine how scientists construct new meanings and materialities of soils in their research practices. Scientific explorations of soil microbiomes are contributing to mapping new frontiers of ecological knowledge. This project will study how political and cultural transformations can support new possibilities for human adaptation and survival on a rapidly changing planet.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.