Research Scientist
Sieg Hall, Room 431
UW HCDE Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195
Dr. Shana Lee Hirsch is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering and the Associate Director of the University of Washington's division of the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC).
With an interdisciplinary background in environmental policy and cultural studies, Shana Lee Hirsch's research brings theoretical tools from STS into conversation with environmental social sciences and the natural resource managers and policymakers that grapple with these issues “on the ground.” Shana is particularly interested in questions about adaptation in scientific practice and knowledge infrastructures and seeks to understand how they change to meet emerging sociotechnical, national, and environmental imaginaries, as well as the shifting baselines that climate change introduces.
Shana is a member of Professor David Ribes’ Data Ecologies Lab. Her current project, funded by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, examines how knowledge infrastructures are adapting to renewable energy transitions. For this, she is looking to Scotland as an exemplar of a nation that is investing heavily in innovation and research for emerging low-carbon technologies.
Shana's background includes a PhD in Water Resources—Law, Policy, & Management from the University of Idaho and she holds an MA in Cultural Studies from the University of Washington and an MSc in Global Environment, Politics, & Society from the University of Edinburgh.