Doctoral Dissertation Research: Plant-Based Biotechnologies and Petrochemical Security

博士论文研究：植物生物技术与石化安全

• 批准号: 1918156
• 负责人: Andrea Ballestero
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1918156&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Plant; Based

What would plastic bottles, synthetic rubber, and even toothpaste be made of if we stopped using petroleum? With mounting concern over the availability and security of fossil fuels, much scholarly and public attention has been paid to finding alternatives for petroleum-based fuels. However, less attention has been paid to finding alternatives for petroleum-based chemicals, used to manufacture of a vast array of everyday items. In the past decade, some scientists have worked to develop an alternative to petroleum-based chemicals: the same chemicals made from sugarcane. This is one example of a category of biotechnologies aiming to utilize crops to manufacture a wide range of products not imaginable even only a decade ago. Nonetheless, questions remain as to whether these plant-based alternative materials are more socially, environmentally, and economically viable than the petroleum-based originals. As the United States and other countries continue to invest millions of dollars into this kind of biotechnology and alternative manufacturing research, it will be critical to understand what social, historical, and economic factors would make plant-based petroleum replacements feasible. Kathleen Ulrich, under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Ballestero of Rice University, will explore the social, economic, and historical dimensions of post-petroleum biotechnological development. Research will be conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where in the past decade an unprecedented amount of scientific funding has been allocated to sugarcane-based product development. This is also a particularly notable research setting because Brazil is the top producer of sugarcane in the world, and the country was originally built upon the slave-based sugarcane industry starting in the sixteenth century. The investigators will examine how sugarcane scientists, state funding agents, and sugar factory workers in Sao Paulo conceive, develop, and implement sugarcane as a petroleum replacement. The investigators will assess to what extent these actors understand the historical, social, economic, and environmental characteristics of sugarcane in Brazil as positively or negatively impacting the feasibility of making sugarcane-based petroleum replacements. The investigators will carry out participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and surveys among the sugarcane scientists, funding agents, and sugar factory workers. This research will increase understandings of how biotechnology, manufacturing, and agriculture are coming together in new ways in the twenty-first century. Findings from this research will be crucial to formulating socially, economically, and environmentally responsible policies around plant-based manufacturing practices in the future. Furthermore, this research will contribute to efforts to improve cross-disciplinary collaborations between social scientists and biologists with the aim of better understanding and communicating to the public the social implications of new biotechnologies.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.

如果我们停止使用石油，塑料瓶、合成橡胶甚至牙膏将由什么制成？随着人们对化石燃料的可用性和安全性的日益关注，学术界和公众越来越关注寻找石油燃料的替代品。然而，人们很少关注寻找用于制造大量日常用品的石油化学品的替代品。在过去的十年中，一些科学家致力于开发石油基化学品的替代品：用甘蔗制成的相同化学品。这是一类生物技术的一个例子，旨在利用农作物生产各种产品，这在十年前是无法想象的。尽管如此，这些基于植物的替代材料是否比基于石油的原始材料更具社会、环境和经济可行性仍然存在疑问。随着美国和其他国家继续向此类生物技术和替代制造研究投资数百万美元，了解哪些社会、历史和经济因素使植物性石油替代品变得可行至关重要。凯瑟琳·乌尔里希 (Kathleen Ulrich) 在莱斯大学 Andrea Ballestero 博士的指导下，将探讨后石油生物技术发展的社会、经济和历史维度。研究将在巴西圣保罗进行，在过去的十年里，这里为甘蔗产品的开发分配了前所未有的科学资金。这也是一个特别值得注意的研究背景，因为巴西是世界上最大的甘蔗生产国，而该国最初是在十六世纪开始以奴隶为基础的甘蔗工业基础上建立的。调查人员将研究圣保罗的甘蔗科学家、国家资助机构和糖厂工人如何构思、开发和实施甘蔗作为石油替代品。调查人员将评估这些参与者在多大程度上了解巴西甘蔗的历史、社会、经济和环境特征对以甘蔗为基础的石油替代品的可行性产生积极或消极的影响。调查人员将对甘蔗科学家、资助机构和糖厂工人进行参与观察、访谈、焦点小组和调查。这项研究将加深人们对二十一世纪生物技术、制造业和农业如何以新方式结合在一起的理解。这项研究的结果对于未来围绕植物制造实践制定对社会、经济和环境负责的政策至关重要。此外，这项研究将有助于改善社会科学家和生物学家之间的跨学科合作，旨在更好地理解并向公众传达新生物技术的社会影响。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。