Awards, Prizes, Grants

The Kranzberg Fellowship

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.)

A complete application should be sent to each member of the Kranzberg selection committee. The application materials should include the following:

  1. A curriculum vitae (all applications must be in English)
  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 September 1.

All application materials, including the letter of recommendation, should be in English and should be in the hands of each member of the committee by April 15. Submissions by email attachment are acceptable.  The committee is charged with selecting the most promising proposal from among those submitted.

2009 Kranzberg Fellowship Committee

Jennifer K. Alexander
Program in History of Science and Technology
University of Minnesota
1100 Mechanical Engineering
111 Church Street SE
Minneapolis MN 55455
jalexand@me.umn.edu
Maria Paula Diogo
Department of Social Sciences
Faculty of Sciences and Technology
New University of Lisbon
Campus de Caparica

Monte de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
mpdiogo@netcabo.pt

Mark Finlay (chair)
Department of History
Armstrong Atlantic State University
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, GA 31419
finlayma@mail.armstrong.edu

Rayvon Fouché
Department of History
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
309 Gregory Hall
810 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801
rfouche@uiuc.edu

Prakash Kumar
Department of History
Colorado State University
Clark, B 356
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1776
Prakash.Kumar@ColoState.edu

 

For more information, please contact the committee chair or Bernie Carlson, SHOT Secretary, 434.975.2190, shot@virginia.edu.

Previous Recipients of the Kranzberg Fellowship

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"