This proposal requests funds to enable eight professional societies in history, philosophy, and social studies of science and technology to provide travel grants to graduate students, independent scholars, and junior scholars between 2014 and 2016. The grants would enable these scholars to participate in some of these professional meetings, those that are pertinent to their professional development. Their participation would facilitate the dissemination of their research results and provide opportunities to engage in professional networking.
Intellectual Merit
Such professionalization is crucial on several fronts. Younger scholars will be teaching at major research universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges; they are also engaged in curating museum exhibits, working at research institutes, overseeing library collections, and helping with government programs. Independent scholars need to maintain contact with their professional societies to promote intellectual and practical stimulation as they continue to work in museums, research institutes, libraries, and government agencies. Finally, recent PhDs face severe cuts in departmental travel funds; travel grants will facilitate the maintenance of their career trajectories. Assisting these groups serves to enhance the STEM workforce, which in turn serves to advance NSF's core mission by improving science literacy and by enhancing the scientific process.
Broader Impacts
The cooperation that this grant will require will serve to maintain relationships across the eight societies, which represent divergent fields. It also facilitates international interactions enabling scholars to travel overseas as they share their research and develop networks. This exchange enhances the intellectual quality of the meetings, while fostering diverse viewpoints and interpretations of science. As the US sees its share of college enrollees in the world dwindle, it is all the more important that these eight societies, all of them with an international membership with the lion's share of its members in the US, share ideas and questions about science and its influence on society.
