Communication Studies’ Plotnick Wins IEEE Life Members’ Prize in Electrical History

Rachel Plotnick from the Department of Communication Studies at UNC Charlotte has received the IEEE Life Members’ Prize in Electrical History – a top national honor.

The IEEE Life Members’ Fund supports the award, which is administered by the Society for the History of Technology. The prize is awarded annually to the best paper in the history of electrotechnology—power, electronics, telecommunications, and computer science—published during the preceding year. The prize consists of a cash award of $500 and a certificate. Plotnick’s paper, “At the Interface: The Case of the Electric Push Button, 1880-1923” is published in Technology and Culture.

Before coming to UNC Charlotte, Plotnick received her doctorate in media, technology and society from the School of Communication at Northwestern University. She also completed a master’s degree in communication, culture and technology at Georgetown University, and completed her bachelor’s degree in English and journalism at Indiana University – Bloomington. Plotnick’s work is published in a number of academic journals that include Critical Studies in Media Communication and Media, Culture and Society.

Plotnick’s research and teaching focus on information, communication and media technologies from an historical and critical/cultural perspective. Specifically, her research agenda examines human-machine relations, particularly as they relate to interfaces. She investigates how these surfaces play a role in the technological and social aspects of daily life.