Project Info
Assessing Sociotechnical Integration in Energy Technology Research and Development
Kathryn Johnson
kjohnson@mines.edu
Jessica Smith
jmsmith@mines.edu
Project Goals and Description:
The project will help energy research and development (R&D) teams integrate the recognition and consideration of broader societal concerns into their practices and products, including perspectives such as justice, sustainability, safety, participation, and ethics. Many researchers consider the societal impacts of energy research with limited intentionality, structure, experience, or institutional support. We want to understand more about how and why these considerations are incorporated.
The iMURF will be part of a larger project for which we – working with an interdisciplinary team from NREL – have been working on a proposal for external funding for similar research. The two named iMURF advisors will be the primary advisors to the undergraduate student, but we also expect that he/she/they will be mentored by the graduate student and NREL researchers on the project. Assuming the overall project is funded, the full team will hold regular meetings at which the iMURF student will be a participant.
More Information:
Grand Challenge: Not applicable.
For more information on one of the advisor’s past work in sociotechnical engineering, we refer interested applicants to https://www.mines.edu/sociotechnicaleducation/. Although this new project will differ in a number of ways (with details not yet published), this site gives some relevant background on the sociotechnical aspects of engineering.
Primary Contacts:
Kathryn Johnson, kjohnson@mines.edu | Jessica Smith, jmsmith@mines.edu
Student Preparation
Qualifications
The student should have good written and oral communication skills, strong interpersonal skills, curiosity to learn about this important topic, and be self-motivated. A strong command of the English language is important for analyzing transcript data, but English is not required to be the student's first language. Some experience in or knowledge of qualitative research methods is preferred but not mandatory. Interest and/or experience in energy-related fields will also be beneficial.
TIME COMMITMENT (HRS/WK)
5
SKILLS/TECHNIQUES GAINED
The student will learn about human subjects research ethics, the concept of macroethics and how it relates to engineering education and the engineering profession, qualitative research methods (such as grounded theory and inductive analysis and others), and academic writing for disseminating results.
MENTORING PLAN
Assuming the larger project is funded, the student will meet with a least one mentor (iMURF co-advisors, graduate student, NREL staff) per week. Meeting with these multiple mentors will facilitate learning across the range of the elements of the project.
Preferred Student Status
Junior
Senior