This project is made possible by grants from both the North Dakota University System and the University of North Dakota. Deneen Marynik of the History Department at the University of North Dakota (UND) provided administrative support for the grant. Stephanie Walker, Dean of the UND Libraries, assisted with grant applications.
Without the support of Damon Freeman, Director of the History and African American Studies Programs at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), this textbook would simply not have been possible. He generously allowed the executive editor to devote time and focus to this textbook. History of Applied Science & Technology: An Open Access Textbook would never have gotten off the ground were it not for that very real support.
The idea for this open educational resource grew out of a course at UMGC, HIST 125: Technological Transformations. Analysis of technology, primarily in Europe and the United States, and how people have shaped and been shaped by technology forms the core of this course. However, it is also something of a course in epistemological history, an exploration and analysis of shifts in ways of understanding and engaging with the natural world. This textbook has attempted to draw on the strengths of HIST 125 while seizing opportunities to bring a global approach to bear.
William Caraher of The Digital Press @ UND has provided guidance in open access publishing. It is not an overstatement to credit Caraher with the launching of this project. Without his relentless optimism and encouragement to try the seemingly impossible, this project would never have gotten beyond the “Someone should really do something about the lack of high quality open access teaching materials for undergraduate courses” stage.
We would like to thank Linda Ruggles, who came out of retirement as a collegiate professor at University of Maryland Global Campus, to serve as interim executive editor for a year.
We thank Karen Garvin, who is a contributor as well as the copyeditor and layout artist.
We also thank Kevin Tengesdahl of Blue Pine Designs, who designed and created our cover.
In the early days of the project, Sheryl Dahm Broedel of UND and Hugh McGuire, Apurva Ashok, Liz Mays, and Zoe Wake Hyde of the Rebus Foundation provided support in the form of recruiting, template design, and regular meetings.
