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The Kranzberg Fellowship

Updated 26 February2024

It is no longer possible to submit proposals for the 2024 Kranzberg Fellowship. The application deadline was 25 February 2024.

If preferred the required letter of recommendation of the dissertation director may also be submitted separately via this link.

Melvin Kranzberg Dissertation Fellowship

Melvin Kranzberg

Melvin Kranzberg

The Melvin Kranzberg Dissertation Fellowship is presented annually to a doctoral student engaged in the preparation of a dissertation on the history of technology, broadly defined. This award is in memory of the co-founder of the Society and honors Melvin Kranzberg’s many contributions to developing the history of technology as a field of scholarly endeavor and SHOT as a professional organization.

The $4,000 award is unrestricted and may be used in any way that the winner chooses to advance the research and writing of his or her dissertation. Possible uses include underwriting the costs of travel to archival collections; photocopying or microfilming; translation of documents; and so on. The award may not be used for university tuition or fees.

Students from institutions of higher learning anywhere in the world who are working on projects in the history of technology are eligible to apply; doctoral candidates from outside the United States are especially encouraged to submit application materials. Applicants must have completed all requirements for their doctorate except for the dissertation by September 1 of the year the award is made. (Students from outside the United States, whose programs of study may follow a different pattern, are encouraged to contact the committee chair to review their standing and discuss their eligibility for the Kranzberg Fellowship.)

Application Guidelines

It is no longer possible to submit proposals for the 2024 Kranzberg Fellowship. The application deadline was 25 February 2024.

online submission portal has been closed

The Kranzberg Fellowship will be announced annually during the Awards Event at the SHOT Annual Meeting.

Please note that all applications should be in English.

An application should include the following:

  1. A curriculum vitae.
  2. A 3-5 page (750-1250 word) summary or abstract of the proposed dissertation. In this summary, applicants should describe how their research contributes to the history of technology.
  3. A 1-2 page (250-500 word) description of how the applicant intends to use the funds.
  4. A letter of recommendation from the student’s dissertation director. This letter should also attest that the student is currently enrolled and in good standing at a recognized university graduate program, and will complete all requirements for the doctorate except the dissertation by 1 September.

Submission Guidelines:

Please submit your application via our online submission form.

If preferred the required letter of recommendation of the dissertation director may also be submitted separately via this link.

In case you experience any problems with the online submission form please contact the SHOT secretariat.

 

Felipe Trujillo, Kranzberg Fellowship recipient 2023, attended the awards event in Los Angeles via Zoom. (Photo: SHOT)

2024 Kranzberg Fellowship Committee

Peter S. Collopy, (2022-2024), Chair
Mary X. Mitchell, (2022-2024)
Michelle Spektor (2024-2026)

For more information, please contact the SHOT secretariat at [email protected].

Recipients of the Kranzberg Fellowship

2023 Felipe Trujillo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago (Chile), “(Green) Revolution among Engineers. Epistemic Communities and Hydric Expertise in Cold War Chile.”
2022 Alfredo L. Escudero Villanueva, Florida International University, “Surveying the Andes: Indigenous Labor, Land Inspections, and the Technologies of Spanish Colonial Rule”
2021 Michelle Spektor, MIT, “From Documents to Data: The Emergence of National Biometric Identification Systems in the 20th and 21st Centuries”
2019 Salem Elzway, “Arms of the State: A History of the Industrial Robot in Postwar America”
2019 Samaa Elimam, “On Site: Engineering, Empire, and the Geography of the Nile Valley”
2018 Angélica Agredo Montealegre, “Road Construction and Maintenance in the Developing World: The Cases of Colombia, Argentina, French West Africa and the Algerian Sahara, 1950s-1960s”
2017 Adewumi Damilola Adebayo, “Electricity, Economy and Society in Southern Nigeria, 1896-1972”
2016 Nandita Badami, “Harnessing the Sun: Solar Technologies and the Politics of Energy in India, 1870-1990”
2015 Matthew Hockenberry, “Far Corners of the Earth: A Media History of Logistics, 1865-1969”
2014 Lisa Zivkovic, “The United States, France, and the Creation of the New Transnational Communications Network Infrastructure, 1960-2000”
2013 Elizabeth Reddy, “Seismic Politics: The Scientific Development of an Early Alert System Infrastructure in Mexico”
2012 Felipe Fernandes Cruz, “Flight of the Toucans: Culture and Technology in the Brazilian Airspace”
2011 Laura Ann Twagira, “Women and Gender in the Office du Niger (Mali): Technology, Environment, and Food, c. 1900-1985”
2010 Lino Camprubi, “Political Engineering: the History of a Dictatorial State Through Science, Technology, and the Landscape (Spain, 1939-1959)”
2009
Bernard Geoghegan, “Theaters of Information: Media, Sites, and Cultures of Postwar Communication Sciences, 1948-1967”
2008
Robert C. Gardner, “Growing Trees in the Sand Hills: The Nature and Culture of a Technological Forest”
2007 Etienne S. Benson, “Spying on the Wild: Science,Surveillance,and Survival in Cold War America”
2006 Mara Mills, “The Dead Room: Deafness and Modern Communications Technologies”
2005 Alan D. Meyer, “Why Fly? A Social and Cultural History of Private Aviation in Post-World War II America, 1945-1985”
2004 Tanya Sheehan, “‘Doctor Photo’: Portrait Photography as Medicine in Late Nineteenth-Century American Culture”
2003 Matthew Sneddon, “Exhibiting Real America: History and Heritage in Museums of Science, Technology, and Industry”
2002 Judith Schueler
2001 Libby J. Freed
2000 Maril Hazlett
1999 Gerald Fitzgerald
1998 Alexander Magoun, “Shaping the Sound of Music: The Evolution of the Phonograph Record”
1997 Gary L. Frost