National Science Foundation

Filter this result by content type

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Forest engineers, bureaucrats, and the constitution of information

The production of accurate and reliable information about rainforests and other difficult-to-survey environments constitutes an enduring challenge for state bureaucrats, scientists, and engineers. Yet the grounded processes through which key environmental information is produced have received little study. The research supported by this award takes up this problem through an anthropological investigation of the technical and bureaucratic practices through which state environmental information is created, transmitted, and applied.

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Comparing Multi-Scalar Claims for Redress and Reparation

In the second half of the twentieth century, claims for redress for historical injustices have put increasing pressure on political and legal systems. This pressure is compounded by the fact that claims for reparations may occur simultaneously at international and national levels. The research supported by this award asks how international claims for redress converge on or diverge from national claims for redress from local governments.

Collaborative Research: Pennsylvania Solitary Confinement Study

The U.S. penal population is the largest in the world, but imprisonment in America is also distinguished by its extensive use of solitary confinement, defined as incarceration in a cell for 23 hours each day with limited access to visits from outsiders or rehabilitative programs. Solitary confinement is an important but understudied part of the experience of punishment in the United States. The scant available evidence suggests solitary confinement is associated with poor health and adjustment to society after incarceration.

Archaeology and Archaeometry

The goal of the Archaeology Program is to fund research which furthers anthropologically relevant archaeological knowledge. In accordance with the National Science Foundation’s mission such research has the potential to provide fundamental scientific insight. While within the broad range of “archaeology” the focus is on projects judged to be significant from an anthropological perspective, the Program sets no priorities based on time period, geographic region or specific research topic. The Program administers four competitions each of which is described below.

Interests: 

Archaeology Program Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards

The Archaeology Program supports anthropologically relevant archaeological research. This means that the value of the proposed research can be justified within an anthropological context. The Program sets no priorities by either geographic region or time period. It also has no priorities in regard to theoretical orientation or question and it is the responsibility of the applicant to explain convincingly why these are significant and have the potential to contribute to anthropological knowledge.

Interests: 

Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Advancing Cognitive and Physical Capabilities

The landscape of jobs and work is changing at unprecedented speed, driven by the development of new technologies that have moved from the factory floor to an expanding array of knowledge and service occupations. These changes promise benefits to the Nation in the creation of new industries and occupations, increased productivity, opportunity for innovation, and sustained global leadership. But there are risks as well.

Deadline: 

Monday, June 4, 2018

Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Autonomy of Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Recent reforms in services for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) have been oriented toward increasing the individual's opportunity for autonomy and a normal life in the community. However, adults with ID/DD show poor outcomes on almost all indicators of successful adulthood. This project examines the influence of the tension between the need for care and encouragement of autonomy on the adult lives of people with ID/DD.

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Formation of Ethnoracial Identity

This project investigates the processes by which children of new groups integrate into American society. More specifically, it focuses on the individual and group-level identity-formation processes central to their incorporation. This study will expand knowledge of these fast-growing but little-studied groups, especially of how they are transitioning to new patterns of life.

Unemployment Insurance Schemes in Developing Countries

This proposed research project will study the most efficient form of unemployment support using a large data set on the employment history of over 400,000 workers. This employment data will be combined with expenditure and unemployment compensation data for the study. The researchers will categorize different types of unemployment compensation (unemployment insurance, lump sum payments, and no insurance) and use sophisticated methods to analyze how the type of unemployment compensation unemployed workers receive affects affect their consumption over time.

The Emergence of Symbolic Notation and Data Visualization in Algebra and Chemistry

This award supports doctoral dissertation research in history of science that focuses on the use of mathematical and chemical symbolism. Such notation is currently regarded as essential to scientific work. By contrast, for much of Western European history, the use of symbols in science was not regarded as a suitable approach. However, by the nineteenth century, symbolic notation had become ubiquitous. This project's objective is to explain why European scientists came to see symbolic notation as credible during the early modern period.

Pages

Subscribe to National Science Foundation

Newsletter

Don't want to miss our interesting news and updates! Make sure to join our newsletter list.

* indicates required

Contact us

For general questions about ISERP programs, services, and events.

Working Papers Bulletin Sign-up

Sign up here to receive our Working Papers Bulletin, featuring work from researchers across all of the social science departments. To submit your own working paper for our next bulletin, please upload it here, or send it to iserp-communication@columbia.edu.
* indicates required