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，合成橡胶甚至牙膏会制造什么？随着对化石燃料的可用性和安全性的关注，为寻找基于石油的燃料的替代品而引起了很多学术和公众的关注。但是，人们对寻找基于石油的化学物质的替代品的关注较少，用于生产大量日常物品。在过去的十年中，一些科学家致力于开发基于石油的化学物质的替代方法：由甘蔗制成的相同化学物质。这是一类生物技术的一个例子，旨在利用农作物制造广泛的产品，即使仅在十年前就无法想象。尽管如此，对于这些基于植物的替代材料是否比基于石油的原件更有社会，环境和经济上的可行性仍然存在问题。随着美国和其他国家继续向这种生物技术和替代制造研究投资数百万美元，了解哪些社会，历史和经济因素将使基于植物的石油替代品可行，这将是至关重要的。在赖斯大学的安德里亚·巴勒斯特罗（Andrea Ballestero）博士的监督下，凯瑟琳·乌尔里希（Kathleen Ulrich）将探索后果实生物技术发展的社会，经济和历史维度。研究将在巴西的圣保罗进行，在过去的十年中，已经将大量的科学资金分配给了基于甘蔗的产品开发。这也是一个特别值得注意的研究环境，因为巴西是世界上甘蔗的顶级生产国，该国最初是建立在16世纪从奴隶的甘蔗产业建立的。调查人员将研究圣保罗的甘蔗科学家，国家资助代理商和糖厂工人如何自我构想，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，经济和环境特征是积极的或负面影响的，从而对基于甘蔗的石油替代品的可行性产生负面影响。调查人员将在甘蔗科学家，资助代理商和制糖厂工人中进行参与者的观察，访谈，焦点小组和调查。这项研究将提高人们对生物技术，制造业和农业如何在二十一世纪以新方式融合在一起的理解。这项研究的发现对于将来在社会，经济和对环境负责的政策上制定了围绕植物制造实践的政策至关重要。此外，这项研究将有助于改善社会科学家与生物学家之间的跨学科合作，以便更好地理解和与公众进行新的生物技术的社会影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子的优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为值得的支持。