Scott Knowles - The United States of Disaster: Disaster Science in America Since 2001

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The collapse of the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001 initiated the most comprehensive research initiative on structures in American history, showcasing new engineering and materials science methodologies, and this was only the beginning. The "homeland security era" with its attendant Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, as well as private and non-profit research initiatives (and massive funding across the board) focused on counter-terrorism touched every STEM discipline, resulting in impressive research outputs. Hurricane Katrina fits into the same frame of reaction-based science funding, opening new opportunities and re-opening older ones, this time including Earth systems science, public health, social science, and humanities work focused on emergency management and resilience.

Until the homeland security enterprise turned inward and morphed into counter-immigration law enforcement it formed a juggernaut of focused scientific research rarely seen in the nation’s history. What did the efforts of this almost-two-decade-long scientific era accomplish, what were its social dimensions, and why was it so easy to unbuild? This talk contextualizes "Post-September 11 Science," alongside the rise of anti-science and conspiracy politics that grew alongside, arguing for a new understanding of this era as continuing many of the dual use strategies of federal science funding in the Cold War.

Event Speaker
Scott Knowles, Senior Director of Research at Northeastern University

Event Information
Free and open to the public; registration required. Contact scienceandsociety@columbia.edu or historyofscience@nyu.edu for questions.

This event is part of the New York History of Science Lecture Series.