Doctoral Dissertation Research: Seismic Politics: The Scientific Development of an Early Alert System Infrastructure in Mexico

博士论文研究：地震政治：墨西哥早期预警系统基础设施的科学发展

• 批准号: 1357388
• 负责人: William Maurer
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1357388&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Seismic; Politics

University of California at Irvine doctoral student, Elizabeth Reddy, supervised by Dr. William M. Maurer, will undertake research in Mexico City on the relationship between science and public safety. Mexico City, subject to frequent and powerful earthquakes, is host to an innovative earthquake early alert system. The Sistema Alerta Sismica (SAS) is comprised of a coordinated set of sensory devices and radio transmitters. These are connected to alert machines in hospitals, schools, media outlets, and sometimes even private homes. Beginning in 1991, when SAS sensory devices register significant earth motion, they automatically send signals to alert machines in Mexico City that, in turn, issue a loud warning, sometimes up to sixty seconds before an earthquake reaches the city. This warning, which depends on the relative speeds at which earthquakes and radio waves move, provides a valuable opportunity for people to take shelter. However, the sensory network and its alert system are severely limited in scope. Because the SAS can only provide alerts for certain earthquakes, it has been subject to a great deal of scientific and public debate. In the process of developing the SAS, maintaining it, and advocating for it, engineers and scientists must mobilize ideas about the social world as well as their technical expertise. This research is designed to explore how these groups navigate the rigorous and possibly conflicting demands of their expertise and imperatives of public safety: particularly how they engage with concepts relating to risk, how they account for particularly Mexican social and technical factors, and ways that institutional imperatives and policy mandates affect their work. As they knit together cutting-edge geophysical and engineering knowledge with public risk management, they undertake work that they themselves describe as challenging in the extreme. To gather the data necessary for this investigation, the researcher utilizes archival resources, participant observation, surveys, social network analysis, interviews, and oral histories. Her findings will speak to production of social politics of seismic risk in Mexico, and has implications for ongoing research on science in the public sphere.

加州大学欧文分校博士生 Elizabeth Reddy 在 William M. Maurer 博士的指导下，将在墨西哥城进行科学与公共安全关系的研究。墨西哥城经常发生强烈地震，拥有创新的地震预警系统。 Sistema Alerta Sismica (SAS) 由一组协调的传感设备和无线电发射器组成。 它们连接到医院、学校、媒体、有时甚至私人住宅的警报机器。从 1991 年开始，当 SAS 传感设备记录到显着的地球运动时，它们会自动向墨西哥城的警报机器发送信号，而警报机器又会发出响亮的警报，有时在地震到达该市之前长达 60 秒。 该警告取决于地震和无线电波移动的相对速度，为人们提供了宝贵的避难机会。 然而，传感网络及其警报系统的范围受到严重限制。 由于 SAS 只能针对某些地震提供警报，因此它引起了大量的科学和公众辩论。在开发、维护和倡导 SAS 的过程中，工程师和科学家必须调动有关社会世界的想法以及他们的技术专长。 本研究旨在探讨这些群体如何应对其专业知识和公共安全要求的严格且可能相互冲突的要求：特别是他们如何参与与风险相关的概念，他们如何考虑特别是墨西哥的社会和技术因素，以及制度化的方式当务之急和政策任务影响他们的工作。当他们将尖端的地球物理和工程知识与公共风险管理结合在一起时，他们承担了他们自己所说的极具挑战性的工作。为了收集本次调查所需的数据，研究人员利用档案资源、参与观察、调查、社交网络分析、访谈和口述历史。她的研究结果将涉及墨西哥地震风险的社会政治的产生，并对公共领域正在进行的科学研究产生影响。