Postdoctoral Fellowship: Jennifer Lieberman: "Power Lines: the Electrical Network in American Life, 1882-1950"

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Introduction This post-doctoral fellowship is to support research and training to enable the postdoctoral fellow to expand her line of dissertation research and eventually to transform her dissertation into a book manuscript. The book is tentatively titled Power Lines: the Electrical Network in American Life, 1882-1950. It will help the fellow to optimize her deep interest in interdisciplinary inquiry by engaging in research and training under the direction of a mentor (the PI), who is an expert in the history of electrification, engineering, and users of technology. Intellectual Merit The fellow's research explores how electrical workers created and debated the social meanings of the electrical network between 1882 and 1950. By tracing descriptions of networks across an array of technical literatures, this study will investigate how understandings of the network changed as power distribution systems evolved from central-power stations into expanding regional networks. After researching how industry leaders promoted, challenged, and institutionalized electrical networks, this project will question how racial dynamics complicated regional and national conceptions of electrical systems. This component of the project will involve archival research about the early years of the electrical engineering programs at Tuskegee University and Howard University, as well as further inquiry into the role that rural electrification played in the daily lives of African Americans. Potential Broader Impacts The results of this research will be disseminated broadly to enhance the study of science and technology in society. The skills and research fostered by this project will not terminate with the completion of the book manuscript; rather, they will help the postdoctoral fellow to become a more effective teacher, mentor, and researcher, who will continue to contribute to the field of Science and Technology Studies for the rest of her career.