Doctoral Dissertation Research: Regulatory Engineering in the EPA's Office of Research and Development

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation project examines the development, accomplishments, and limitations of regulatory engineering at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the 1970s. It is a mixed-method study of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) that combines archival research and oral history interviews with STS policy theory. The Co-PI will visit the National Archives at College Park, MD; EPA's headquarter libraries at Washington, DC; and regional libraries and laboratories at Research Triangle Park, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Las Vegas, NV; and Corvallis, OR and will conduct oral history interviews with former EPA engineers and other professionals. Intellectual merit The project investigates the emergence of environmental engineering as a field in the United States as a co-production of policy and technology at the nexus of government, industry, and academia. It defines regulatory engineering as socio-technical problem definition and solution in which technical knowledge, products, and practices are incorporated into federal regulation, which in turn influences engineering knowledge and professional identity. By following the development of pollution control technologies and chemical monitoring during a period of extensive institutional change, the project addresses: (1) how engineers applied ecological ideas and developed new technologies; (2) why engineering became a supportive function at ORD, while its regulatory ideal spread into government and industry in the 1980s; and (3) how changes at EPA shaped future environmental policy and foreclosed alternatives by quantifying pollution and separating research from regulation. Broader impact By generating significant new knowledge about the relationship between environmental politics, engineering formation, and technology development, the project has broad relevance for policymakers, scientists and engineers, environmental activists, and STS scholars. It explains how regulatory policy-making interacts with professional research and practice. It highlights the role of engineers in environmental management and addresses the unique policy-oriented character of environmental engineering compared to other fields of engineering. Finally, it uses the history of EPA to inform effective technology policy in the current environmental crisis.