Graduate Student Lauren Barrett Receives a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
Graduate Student Lauren Barrett Receives a Wenner-Gren FoundationDissertation Fieldwork Grant.These grantsare awarded to aid doctoral or thesis research. The program contributes to the Foundation's overall mission to support basic research in anthropology and to ensure that the discipline continues to be a source of vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of humanity's cultural and biological origins, development, and variation. The Foundation supports research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates, and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas.
This award will help Laurencontinue her research and complete her dissertation. See her research abstract below.
Project Title: Barrett, Lauren (Colorado, Boulder, U. of) "Imagining a Sustainable and Smart Future: Innovation and Design of the Colorado Electric Grid”
Decarbonization is an important goal of climate policy and one that relies heavily on electrical infrastructure as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Different stakeholders emphasize different means of achieving a common goal, from smart technologies involving automated use of algorithms, to approaches involving more consistent monitoring by scientists and engineers. This project aims to evaluate the concerns and hopes of various stakeholders in electrification projects. It tests theories in cultural anthropology to understand how level of involvement (state versus lab versus community) and priorities (person- versus environment-centered) shape understandings of electrification goals and outcomes. It contributes to the training of a doctoral student in scientific cultural anthropology and its results will be disseminated widely to academic and non-academic audiences.