American Historical Association

From the News column of the September 2005 Perspectives

NASA and Jameson Fellowships Awarded

NASA Fellowship

Alexander Brown received the 2005–2006 Fellowship in Aerospace history sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The NASA Fellowship honors advanced historical research in aerospace, throughout all fields and periods of history (scientific, cultural, technical, etc.). Brown is a PhD candidate at MIT. He specializes in the history and social study of science and technology. His doctoral project is entitled "Accidents, Engineering and History at NASA, 1967–2003." Brown's research aims at investigating the cultural history of engineering practices at NASA since the 1960s, by applying a management decision-making approach to engineering management in aerospace. Brown's research explores the origins of the separation between engineering practices and engineering management at NASA. An analysis of changes in that area can help us better explain (and prevent) dramatic events such as the 1986 Challenger and the 2003 Columbia accidents.

Jameson Fellowship

Chad A. Goldberg is the new recipient of the 2005-2006 J. Franklin Jameson Fellowship, which is offered in partnership with the Library of Congress (LOC). This fellowship helps junior scholars to conduct valuable research in U.S. history demanding extensive use of the general and special collections of the Library of Congress. Chad A. Goldberg obtained his PhD in sociology from the New School for Social Research in 2001, after which he became Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His research at the LOC will serve the elaboration of his first book based on his dissertation, which was entitled "'Out of the Twilight Zone': The Struggle for Recognition by Works Progress Administration and Workfare Workers." His book manuscript is concerned with civic inclusion, race, and the American welfare state. It will examine social policy innovations and political struggles over citizenship from the late 19th century to the 1990s, by focusing on three episodes: the Freedmen's Bureau, the WPA, and workfare. Goldberg will be researching the records of the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands; the U.S. Pension Bureau; the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA); and the Social Security Administration.

For further detail on these fellowships, please see http://www.historians.org/prizes/Fellowships.htm and associated links.

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