Titles

• Senior Global Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory
• Faculty Chair and Honors Faculty Fellow, Barrett, the Honors College

Biography

Mary Ingram-Waters joined the faculty of Barrett, the Honors College, in January, 2009, after the birth of her second daughter. She completed her doctorate in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2008. Her thesis, “Fictions of New Biological Sciences: Exploring Cultural Sites of Knowledge Production,” examines three different fictional arenas to uncover hidden histories and alternative experts of new biological and genetic technologies: 1970s lesbian science fiction, the 2002 Raelians’ cloning hoax, and an online amateur fiction community dedicated to the phenomenon of male pregnancy. While a doctoral student at UCSB, Professor Ingram-Waters held a two-year research fellowship at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society and a one year research fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies of Science, Technology, and Society, in Graz, Austria. She was awarded the inaugural dissertation fellowship by the Capps Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life. Publications from her dissertation research have appeared in Public Understanding of Science and the Yearbook of the STS-IAS. Professor Ingram-Waters sums up her research interests thusly: How do people use their imaginations to understand science and technology?

Waters' current teaching and research interests explore the intersections of gender, sexualities, and fandoms. She has taught honors seminars on fandom cultures, global fandoms, and science, technology, and sexualities. Her publications have explored the dynamics of gender, race, and sexualities in sports, esports, electronic games, television, film, and music fandoms. She has written commentary or spoken to the media, local and national, on Harry Potter, Star Trek, Overwatch, Taylor Swift, the NFL, Scandal, Supernatural, Good Omens, and celebrities' use of social media platforms. She has directed or participated in more than 40 honors theses and published with three undergraduate students.

Education

• PhD, Sociology, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2008
• MA, Sociology, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2001
• BA, Sociology (minor Women's Studies), University of West Georgia, 1997