Orientador: Maria Ribeiro do Valle / Banca: Ana Lúcia de Castro / Banca: Claudio Novaes Pinto Coelho / Resumo: O movimento do pensar está constantemente presente nas ciências sociais. Aquele que realiza esse movimento - o cientista social - o faz com o intuito de estudar diversos aspectos da sociedade em busca de compreender o mundo em que vivemos e também entender como aqui chegamos. A profissão do cientista social, portanto, está marcada por um processo reflexivo constante, apoiada nas teorias de sociologia, antropologia e ciência política. Mas tal movimento também acontece entre áreas de ciências humanas, numa troca interdisciplinar. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar como se realiza o movimento do pensar do cientista social quando o mesmo está localizado em outra área, exercendo sua atividade profissional em pesquisa de mercado: como surgiu e se desenvolveu esta profissionalização no Brasil? Qual a percepção do cientista social a respeito de sua atuação dentro da área de pesquisa de mercado? Como esta prática profissional está sendo exercida atualmente? Pretende-se discutir o escopo desta profissão em uma atividade não-acadêmica voltada ao mercado, tendo como pano de fundo o contexto de uma sociedade e cultura denominadas "de consumo". Qual o uso social das ciências sociais que se faz fora da universidade e que tipo de sociologia se consegue fazer fora do meio acadêmico? Diante disso, há então a possibilidade de realizar uma abordagem reflexiva por parte do cientista social e um exame crítico do papel das ciências sociais, seus usos e caminhos futuros. Conhecer este grupo de cientistas sociais, sua identidade e o significado social do que produzem é o objetivo deste trabalho, dando, então, voz ao pensamento dos mesmos. / Abstract: The movement of thought is constantly present in the social sciences. The person who performs this move - the social scientist - studies various aspects of society in search of understanding the world we live in and also to understand how we got here. The social scientist's profession, therefore, is marked by a constant process of reflection, based on the theories of sociology, anthropology and political science. But this movement also occurs between areas of humanities, an interdisciplinary exchange. The aim of this study is to investigate how the movement of thought is realized when it is located in another area, professionally active in market research: how it emerged and developed this professionalization in Brazil? What is the perception of the social scientist about his activities within the area of market research? How this practice is being exercised today? It is intended to discuss the scope of this profession in a non-academic activity focused on the market, with the background of the context of a society and culture called "consumption." What is the social use of social science that is done outside the university and what kind of sociology can be done outside of academia? Then there is the possibility of a reflective approach by the social scientist and a critical examination of the role of social sciences, their uses and future directions. Knowing this group of social scientists, their identity and the social significance of what they produce is the objective of this work, giving a voice to the thought of the social scientists. / Mestre

This study explored the life and work of the late Grace Murray Hopper, Rear Admiral United States Naval Reserve. The study emphasized Hopper's contributions to computer science and computer science education, including her philosophy of teaching and learning, and her pedagogical legacy for today's teachers and scholars of computer science and computer science education.

Researchers and policymakers are interested in the pathway to the STEM workforce given projections about a workforce shortage and the underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM. These examinations often rely on the STEM pipeline model as a framework for understanding STEM persistence, which uses a STEM degree as a proxy for future workforce entry. However, this approach limits knowledge on STEM persistence to students’ postsecondary years and is not an appropriate framework for examining persistence from a longitudinal perspective. Few studies use longitudinal data and methods appropriate for examining STEM persistence and identifying when attrition from the pathway to the workforce is likely to occur. I used STEM career aspirations and social cognitive career theory as a guiding framework to track students on their trajectory to the STEM workforce. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), I examined the career aspirations histories from grade 10 to age 26 of high school students with early STEM career aspirations. I constructed alluvial diagrams to explore patterns of differential change in students’ career aspirations over time and how these patterns relate to STEM-related milestones. I used survival analysis to determine whether and when students lose their STEM career aspirations for the first time during their secondary, postsecondary, and early adult years. I applied discrete-time hazard modeling to determine how students’ characteristics, background affordance, and math self-efficacy contribute to their likelihood of no longer aspiring to a STEM career. I found that students’ career aspirations are unstable over time. Nearly half of the students in the sample lose their STEM career aspirations by grade 12. Still, it was more likely that students who reached STEM-related milestones aspired to a STEM career at the juncture preceding those achievements. While students’ early STEM career aspirations did not appear to have a considerable impact on reaching STEM-related milestones, most of the students who reached those milestones persisted in their grade 10 STEM career aspirations. Students’ gender, race, parental educational expectations, math achievement, and math self-efficacy all have statistically significant impacts on the likelihood of no longer aspiring to a STEM career. I provide implications for future research, policy, and practice related to STEM persistence.

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Scientists are widely regarded as high status individuals, who are smarter than the vast majority of the population. Science holds a very high status as a discipline, both within and outside of academe. This notwithstanding, popular stereotypes of scientists are often highly negative, with the image of the socially inept or even mad scientist being commonplace. This apparent contradiction is worth exploring. Additionally, we see the label scientific being used to justify pseudoscience and other results that are flatly contradicted by the bulk of scientific research (e.g., links between vaccines and autism). This is not due, as some argue, only or even primarily to a lack of understanding of science. Ultimately, there are two "sciences": science defined by the scientific methodology of the scientists, and the broader cultural use of science as a truthteller without real use of scientific methodology. This dichotomy is wrapped up in both the nature of modernity and the idea of post-modernity. This research uses a content analysis of film to examine the nature of stereotypical portrayals of scientists, and a factor analysis of NSF survey data to investigate the complex attitudes towards science and scientists.

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This dissertation examines the debates and discourses surrounding the Korean Astronaut Program (KAP) using the concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries, sociotechnical vanguards, and the construction of expertise. Based on documentary analysis and oral interviews, this research considers KAP as an example of how the visions of sociotechnical vanguards conflict and their failure to construct a unified sociotechnical imaginary. Furthermore, it contends that the expertization of the Korean astronaut failed because of the public openness of KAP. KAP was proposed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and run by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). These two sociotechnical vanguards, MOST and KARI, provided different visions to the Korean public sphere, which already ascribed to its own image of an astronaut. MOST imagined the future Korea as a science-loving nation in which especially the next generations would have a strong interest in science and technology. Thus, MOST defined KAP as a science popularizing program and the Korean astronaut as a science popularizer. However, imagining a better Korea with better science and technology, KARI defined KAP as a research program that would lead to human space flight technology and considered the Korean astronaut a space expert. However, in the Korean public sphere, the widely shared expectation was a better Korea with a Korean heroic astronaut, because having a hero similar to that in other countries could position Korea on par with other advanced countries. These three visions conflicted in Korean society during KAP, and none of them succeeded in becoming the dominant sociotechnical imaginary. This elicited severe criticism of KAP and the Korean astronaut. KAP was also a good example of expertization with public openness. Credibility is the most important part of modern scientific practice. Without credibility, scientific experts cannot exercise their authority. Credibility rests on social markers such as academic degrees, track records, and institutional affiliation. However, these social markers are not suddenly assigned to an expert, who spends much time and effort attaining them. Rather, experts are made in a continuous process of improvement. Therefore, this research focuses on the process through which a person becomes an expert in emerging science and proposes the new terminology: expertization. Usually, the expertization process is hidden behind a public image. People do not know how experts obtain social markers, despite believing that these verify expertise. However, when the expertization process open to the public, it could be easily destroyed. KARI tried to position the Korean astronaut as a space expert. The first Korean astronaut did not become an expert overnight, but emerged as such to the Korean public through a selection process, training, and spaceflight. However, unlike other expertization, all steps comprising KAP were broadcast, and the expertization of Dr. Soyeon Yi, the first Korean astronaut, was open to the public. Consequently, her expertise was questioned each time the public found an element that did not satisfy their expectations. This research also clarifies the meaning of gender in emerging science. Dr. Soyeon Yi became the first Korean astronaut before any Korean male. In this way, KAP provided an important meaning to women in science, especially in the field of emerging science, which is usually dominated by males. Through these discussions, this research expands the application of sociotechnical imaginary and expert studies. It also enhances understanding of these discourses in Korean society, and stimulates discussions of the negative consequences of research programs. / Doctor of Philosophy / In April 2008, the first Korean Astronaut, Dr. Soyeon Yi, was launched to the International Space Station. The Korean nation welcomed their astronaut and believed this marked Korea's entry into the space age. However, before long, this aspiration changed to severe criticism. This research analyzes the Korean Astronaut Program (KAP) from its proposal to after its spaceflight in terms of its reception by Korean society. The Korean Astronaut Program was proposed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to overcome the science and engineering crisis in 2004. As such, MOST defined KAP as a science-popularization program and the Korean astronaut as a science popularizer. However, as the first human space program in Korea, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), who ran KAP, considered it a research program to achieve human spaceflight technology and the Korean astronaut a space expert. These two different understandings were communicated to the Korean public sphere. However, the Korean pubic already had its own image of the "heroic" astronaut based on other countries' space programs and popular culture. The public thought that having an astronaut would position the country on par with other countries. Because the visions of MOST, KARI, and the Korean public differed, KAP could not satisfy the expectations of all three actors. In addition, the process through which Dr. Yi became the first Korean astronaut was opened to the Korean public. Consequently, when the public found an element that did not satisfy their expectations, they doubted Dr. Yi as a space expert, bringing about severe criticism of KAP and the concept of the Korean astronaut.

As the professional identity of political scientists has changed, so have their constructions of political knowledge. Political scientists initially defined themselves in terms of their ability to aid a modernizing polity. By the 1970’s, though, political knowledge was strongly affected by vocational necessity, i. e., by the need to conduct research in an increasingly competitive publication market. The discipline of political science has grown tremendously since its inception in the university. Political research and political knowledge have expanded apace. Through looking at the discipline’s major attempts to establish a professional identity in the university one can begin to understand ways in which political scientists have constructed political knowledge in response to prevailing social and political phenomena. Through this lens we can assess the current state of the discipline and, based on a historical account of the discipline, perhaps begin to understand which direction the discipline may go in the future, especially in terms of the usefulness of political knowledge in society. / Master of Arts

Les travailleurs hautement qualifiés - scientifiques et ingénieurs en particulier - sont un atout important pour le développement d’un pays car ils sont des facteurs majeurs dans la production de connaissances. C'est ce qui justifie les efforts compétitifs déployés par plusieurs pays afin d'attirer ces travailleurs. Les pays de destination sont en général décrits comme étant les grands gagnants des migrations des travailleurs hautement qualifiés. Ce qui n'est pas le cas des pays d'origine où ces migrations sont perçues comme une perte en capital humain. Cependant, ce phénomène serait beaucoup plus complexe qu'il n'y parait. En effet, il existe d'autres facteurs inhérents à la dynamique des migrations des travailleurs hautement qualifiés qui restent soit partiellement ou totalement inexplorés dans la littérature. Ces facteurs sont liés à des éléments résultant de ces migrations et pouvant créer des retombées positives vers les pays d'origine tout en contribuant ainsi à l'innovation dans ces pays. Afin d'explorer plus en profondeur cette question, il serait nécessaire de conduire une analyse approfondie autour de la question sur la nature des liens entre migrants hautement qualifiés résidant à l'étranger d'une part et celle des liens qui lient ces migrants à leurs pays d'origine d'autre part. A travers cette analyse, nous nous proposons de contribuer au débat sur le « brain gain » en investiguant les dynamiques de diffusion des connaissances à l'intérieur du réseau des migrants hautement qualifiés dans les pays de destination, mais également vers les pays d'origine. / Highly skilled workers – scientists and engineers in particular – are an important asset for a nation in so far that they enter in the production of knowledge as highly valuable human capital. That is why many countries have been competing for attracting. Receiving countries are in general pictured as the biggest winners from highly skilled migration. While the latter is perceived as a loss for sending countries. However, the situation might not be as simplistic as it seems. Indeed, we believe there are several unexplored factors underpinning the dynamics of highly skilled migration which contribute to some positive feedback to the sending countries in terms of knowledge and innovation while spurring innovation in the destination countries. And for a better understanding of these factors, one needs to look further into the nature of the ties linking highly skilled migrants abroad on one hand and to their home countries on the other hand. With our research we intend to contribute to the brain drain – brain gain trade-off debate by investigating the dynamics of knowledge diffusion within migrants’ networks in receiving countries and more importantly to sending countries.