Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book was a number of years in the making, and I incurred many debts along the way. While I taught at Georgia Tech, I was fortunate to have several good friends with whom I could exchange ideas and share a beer. These include Jon Schneer, Joan Sokolovsky, Andrea Tone, and Steve Vallas. I am pleased that Steve and I continue to collaborate, and my contact with the others is ongoing as well. In addition to these Tech colleagues , I want to thank Bob McMath and Greg Nobles for all their help in securing the leaves during which I did the research for this project, and Denise Corum, who was always a supportive presence in the School of History, Technology, and Society at Georgia Tech. In Wisconsin, I have benefited from the support and intellectual companionship of Fred Buttel, Chas Camic, Jess Gilbert, Abby Kinchy, and Jack Kloppenburg. Jack, along with Allen Hunter and Scott Frickel, read an early draft of the manuscript. All three of them provided me with vital comments and suggestions , and I continue to benefit from an ongoing conversation with Scott on the many issues taken up in this book. Later in the process, Brian Martin and David Hess read the manuscript as peer reviewers for the University of Wisconsin Press. Their comments allowed me to tighten the book substantially. I am also pleased that the review process helped initiate my contact with these scholars. I wrote a good deal of this book during two stays in England, where I was affiliated with Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. xiii Members of the staff and fellows at Clare Hall made my time there especially productive. While in Cambridge the first time, I met and became friends with Paul Morrish and Rebecca Stott. I am grateful for their friendships. Beyond my assorted academic homes, I received support of various kinds from several people. I benefited from discussions about ethnography with Stacy Wolf, and conversations about science and technology studies with Kelly Moore. Larry Cohen read the book’s first chapter and provided me with helpful suggestions for improvement. My mother, Barbara Kleinman, is my informal clipping service. She regularly turns up news articles relevant to my work; several of her finds were particularly useful in this project. My father, Gerald Kleinman, has also been a help, providing me with both legal advice and typographical oversight . Finally, there is no way I can adequately thank my partner, Susan Bernstein, and daughter, Flora Berklein, for tolerating me at my most difficult and for every day providing the kind of crucial sustenance that is too easy to overlook. This project would not have been possible without financial support. I received an early research grant from the Georgia Tech Foundation, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers allowed me a block of time away from teaching to draft this book. To move from manuscript to book requires a publisher, and I want especially to thank the director of the University of Wisconsin Press, Robert Mandel, who took an interest in my project and has made a broader commitment on the Press’ behalf to science and technology studies. My thanks also are due to Tricia Brock, Erin Holman, Sharon van Sluijs, and others at the Press who helped prepare the manuscript for publication. Finally, I owe my largest debt of gratitude to the scientists and others who were members of the Handelsman lab or af- filiated with it when I did my field work. These include: Robert Goodman, Scott Bintrim, Mark Bittinger, Elizabeth Emmert, Lynn Jacobson, Laurie Luther, Jocelyn Milner, Eduardo Robleto , Eric Stabb, Sandy Stewart, and Liz Stohl. I want especially to thank Elizabeth Emmert and Eric Stabb, both of whom read this book in manuscript form and provided helpful comments, as well as Steve Stevenson who participated in and agreed to be xiv Acknowledgments interviewed on the bioregional biocontrol project (see chapter 6). Of course, this project would not have been possible without the unwavering support and regular guidance and assistance of Jo Handelsman. She opened her lab and professional life to my study and in the process brought science alive for me. Acknowledgments xv Impure Cultures ...