Community and Rural Sociology
The University's Capacity to Conduct Research for
the
Public Good
Dr. Glenna’s research is part of a three-year USDA-funded project that includes scholars from several disciplines at universities and non-profit organizations throughout the United States. The first component of that research has involved intensive interviews (60-120 minutes) with the scientists, technical transfer staff, and administrators at each of six universities (Cornell, Wisconsin, Oregon State, UC Davis, Texas A&M, and North Carolina State), along with follow-up interviews with their industry collaborators. The second component involved a nationwide, stratified random sample of biotechnology scientists at major research universities. The combined qualitative-quantitative methodology enables Dr. Glenna and his team to test hypotheses regarding factors influencing bioscience research design with an enhanced capacity to interpret the results.
Dr. Glenna and some of his colleagues hope to expand upon this research with two proposed research initiatives. In the first, the team intends to investigate the extent to which negative publicity related to the publication of controversial research findings on the ecological consequences of transgenic crops may be discouraging other scientists from conducting similar research.
The thrust of this work will be to interview three scientists who have gained notoriety for publishing papers that reflected negatively on transgenic products. The Washington State researchers then will interview other scientists to determine how they have interpreted the controversies and whether the controversies influence their future research choices.
In the second initiative, Dr. Glenna and his team propose to examine industry influences on research at five Mexican universities using a methodology similar to the one used for the USDA project. The WSU researchers believe that the results will provide valuable data for a comparative analysis of U.S. and Mexican research universities.
Contact Information
Leland Glenna, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Community and Rural Sociology
Washington State University
PO Box 644006
Pullman, WA 99164-4006
Telephone: 509-335-8539
E-mail: llglenna@wsu.edu
Society, Communication, and Learning
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Dr. Leland Glenna earned his Ph.D. in the sociology of agriculture and natural resources at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1997. His dissertation focused on obstacles to effective federal soil conservation policy. He served two years as a post-doctoral associate at Cornell University on a project examining the New York City Watershed conflict before becoming a lecturer in the Development Sociology Department at Cornell University, teaching courses on environmental sociology and sustainable development. In 2002, he became a research associate on a USDA-funded project to examine how university-industry relationships to conduct agricultural biotechnology research affect the provision of public goods. He joined WSU as an assistant professor in the Community and Rural Sociology Department in 2004. |
