Edmund P. Russell III
Professor (1994)
Office Hours: T Th 11-12 and by appt.
Office: A221 Thornton Hall
Phone: (434) 982-2623
Email: epr5d (at) virginia.edu
Fields & Specialties
Environmental History; History of TechnologyMember of Committee on the History of Environment and Technology
Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ph.D., Biology, 1993. Dissertation: “War on Insects: Warfare, Insecticides, and Environmental Change in the United States, 1870-1945.” Committee: Beverly Rathcke and John Vandermeer (co-chairs), Gerald Linderman, Richard Tucker, Earl Werner.
Stanford University, Stanford, California. B.A., English with distinction and highest honors, 1980.
Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ph.D., Biology, 1993.
Stanford University, Stanford, California. B.A., English with distinction and highest honors, 1980.
Employment
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Professor of Science, Technology, and Society and History, 2011-present. Associate Professor, 2000–2011. Assistant Professor, 1994-2000.
American University, Washington, D.C. Professorial Lecturer, Department of History, 1994.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ph. D. Student, 1986-1993.
Stanford University, Stanford, California. Lou Henry Hoover House Manager, 1984-1986.
Duchesne Academy, Omaha, Nebraska. Teacher, American Literature, 1982-1983.
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Silang, Cavite, Philippines. Writer, Editor, and Appropriate Technology Project Leader with Volunteers in Asia, 1980-1982.
Visiting Positions
Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. Visiting Scholar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science; Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall; Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for History and Economics, King’s College; August 2002-July 2003.
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
Carson Fellowship, Rachel Carson Center of the Ludwig Maximilians University and Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany, 2010-2011.
Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians, 2008-2014.
Leopold-Hidy Prize (for the best article published in Environmental History in 2003), awarded by the American Society for Environmental History and the Forest History Society for “Evolutionary History: Prospectus for a New Field,” Environmental History 8 (April 2003): 204-228.
Edelstein Prize (for an outstanding book in the history of technology published in the preceding three years), awarded by the Society for the History of Technology for War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 2003.
Life Member, Clare Hall, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, 2003-present.
Forum for the History of Science in America Prize (for the best article on the history of science in America published in the previous three years by a scholar within ten years of the Ph.D.) awarded by the Forum for the History of Science in America for “The Strange Career of DDT: Experts, Federal Capacity, and ‘Environmentalism’ in World War II,” Technology and Culture 40 (1999): 770-796, 2001.
State Council on Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award (awarded to eleven faculty members statewide), 1999.
Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award, University of Virginia (awarded to one assistant professor university-wide), 1998.
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1995-1999.
Teaching Fellows Award, University of Virginia (awarded to six faculty members), 1995-1996.
Rachel Carson Prize (for the best Ph.D. dissertation in environmental history completed in the previous two years), American Society for Environmental History, 1994.
Distinguished Dissertation Award, University of Michigan (awarded to four of 600 dissertations), 1994.
American Association for the Advancement of Science-Environmental Protection Agency Science and Engineering Fellowship, 1993.
Predoctoral Fellowship, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 1991-1994.
Fulbright Fellowship to Philippines, 1990 (declined).
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, University of Michigan, 1989-1990.
University of Michigan Regents Fellowship, 1986-1989.
Naturalist-Ecologist Training Program Fellowship, University of Michigan Biological Station, 1987.
Prize for outstanding undergraduate honors thesis, Stanford University, 1980.
Refereed Books
Edmund Russell, Gambling on Evolution: The Coevolution of English Culture with Fierce, Fleet, and Fancy Dogs (under contract to Cambridge University Press).
Edmund Russell, Evolutionary History: Uniting History and Biology to Understand Life on Earth (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2011). Issued simultaneously in hardback, paperback, and ebook.
Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell (editors), Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004).
Edmund Russell, War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Issued simultaneously in hardback and paperback.
Refereed Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Edmund Russell, James Allison, Thomas Finger, John K. Brown, Brian Balogh, and W. Bernard Carlson, “The Nature of Power: Synthesizing the History of Technology and Environmental History,” Technology and Culture 52 (April 2011): 246-259.
Edmund Russell, “Can Organisms Be Technology?” in Stephen Cutcliffe and Martin Reuss (editors), The Illusory Boundary (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010), 249-262.
Edmund Russell and Jennifer Kane, “The Missing Link: Assessing the Reliability of Internet Citations in History Journals,” Technology and Culture 49 (April 2008): 410-420.
Edmund Russell and Richard P. Tucker, “Introduction,” in Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell (editors), Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004).
Edmund Russell, "'Speaking of Annihilation': Mobilizing for War against Human and Insect Enemies, 1914-1945," in Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell (editors), Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004).
Edmund Russell, “Introduction: The Garden in the Machine: Toward an Evolutionary History of Technology,” in Susan R. Schrepfer and Philip Scranton (editors), Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History (New York: Routledge, 2004), 1-16.
Edmund Russell, “Evolutionary History: Prospectus for a New Field,” Environmental History 8 (April 2003): 204-228.
Edmund Russell, “The Strange Career of DDT: Experts, Federal Capacity, and ‘Environmentalism’ in World War II,” Technology and Culture 40 (1999): 770-796.
Edmund Russell, “L. O. Howard Promoted War Metaphors as a Rallying Cry for Economic Entomology,” American Entomologist 45 (Summer 1999): 74-78.
Edmund Russell, “'Lost Among the Parts Per Billion': Ecological Protection at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1970-1993," Environmental History 2 (January 1997): 29-51.
Edmund Russell, "'Speaking of Annihilation': Mobilizing for War against Human and Insect Enemies, 1914-1945," Journal of American History 82 (March 1996): 1505-1529.
Edmund Russell, "Enemies Hypothesis: A Review of the Effect of Vegetational Diversity on Insect Predators and Parasitoids," Environmental Entomology 18 (1989): 590-599.
Other Publications
Edmund Russell, “What is Environmental History?” in Kathleen A. Brosnan (editor), Encyclopedia of American Environmental History (New York: Facts on File, 2011), 7-14.
Edmund Russell, “Afterword - Militarized Landscapes: Concluding Reflections,” in Chris Pearson, Peter Coates, and Tim Cole (editors), Militarized Landscapes: From Gettysburg to Salisbury Plain (New York: Continuum, 2010), 229-237.
Edmund Russell, “Fauna: A Prospectus for Evolutionary History,” in Douglas Cazaux Sackman (editor), A Companion to American Environmental History (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 345-374.
Edmund Russell and the Orbit Book Team, War and Pieces: How Orbit Gum Conquered the World (Lulu.com, 2009). Book of 382 pages written by students in STS 4010: Western Technology and Culture, Fall 2009.
Edmund Russell and the Cup Noodles Team, Noodling around the World: Nissin’s Instant Success in a Cup (Lulu.com, 2009). Book of 320 pages written by students in STS 4010: Western Technology and Culture, Fall 2009.
Edmund Russell and the Red Bull Team, Charging a Generation: Red Bull Revealed (Lulu.com, 2008). Book of 202 pages written by students in STS 401: Western Technology and Culture, Fall 2008.
Edmund Russell, “Everyday Evolution,” in Jessica R. Feldman and Robert Stilling (editors), What Should I Read Next? (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 89-91.
Edmund Russell, “Rethinking Discussion Leadership,” Teaching Concerns (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center, Spring 2008), 1-2.
Review of Richard W. Bulliet, Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), Technology and Culture 48 (2007): 182-184.
Review of Lorraine Dunston and Fernando Vidal (editors), The Moral Authority of Nature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), European History Quarterly 37 (no. 1, 2007): 12-14.
Edmund Russell, “The Michael Vicks of Yore,” Washington Post, 2 September 2007, B2.
Edmund Russell, “Blame 19th-Century Britons for Dogfights,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7 September 2007, A13.
Review of Shepard Krech, III, J. R. McNeill, and Carolyn Merchant (editors), Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (New York: Routledge, 2004), Environmental History 10 (January 2005): 119-121.
Review of Mary J. Henninger-Voss (editor), Animals in Human Histories: The Mirror of Nature and Culture (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2002), and of Angela N. H. Creager and William Chester Jordan, The Animal/Human Boundary: Historical Perspectives (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2002), History 90 (January 2005): 115-116.
Edmund Russell, “Nicking the Thin Edge of the Wedge: What History Suggests about the Environmental Law of War,” Virginia Environmental Law Journal 24 (no. 3, 2005): 377-388.
Edmund P. Russell III, “Environmental Regulation,” in Carolyn Merchant (editor), Major Problems in American Environmental History, 2nd edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 494-500.
Edmund Russell, “Science and Environmental History,” Environmental History 10 (January 2005): 80-82.
Edmund Russell, “Chemicals in the Field: Author’s Response” (part of review symposium on War and Nature), Metascience 12 (March 2003): 21-23.
Kathryn A. Neeley, Edmund P. Russell III, Donald E. Brown, Michael E. Gorman, and William T. Scherer, “Getting Real: The Challenges of Using Written Products of Undergraduate Research to Achieve Multiple Educational Goals,” 2001 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings (Washington: American Society for Engineering Education, 2001), session 3261 on CD-ROM.
Edmund Russell, “Declare Peace in the War on the West Nile Virus,” Opinion-Editorial piece under various titles in Atlanta Constitution, 8 November 2000; Hartford Courant, 12 November 2000; Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 12 November 2000; Northern New Jersey Record, 7 November 2000.
Review of Jessica Wang, American Science in an Age of Anxiety: Scientists, Anticommunism, and the Cold War, Technology and Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), Technology and Culture 41 (January 2000): 161-162.
Edmund Russell, reflection on teaching in J. Jenry Morsman IV, William B. McAllister, and Marva A. Barnett (editors), Reflections on Teaching: Personal Essays on the Scholarship of Teaching (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center, 1999), 111-113.
Review of Richard C. Sawyer, To Make a Spotless Orange: Biological Control in California, (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1996), Journal of the History of Biology 31 (Spring 1998): 147-149.
Edmund Russell, "The Committee on the History of Technology and Environment at the University of Virginia," 1998 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings (Washington: American Society for Engineering Education, 1998), Session 2461 on CD-ROM.
Edmund Russell, "Testing Insecticides and Repellents in World War II," in Merritt Roe Smith and Gregory Clancey (eds.), Major Problems in the History of American Technology (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), 399-409.
Matthew M. Mehalik and Edmund Russell, "DesignTex, Incorporated (A) and (B) Teaching Note, UVA-E-0099TN" (Charlottesville, Virginia: Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, 1996).
Edmund Russell and Julie M. Stocker, "Hands-On Ethics: Experiences with Cases in the Classroom," 1996 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings (Washington: American Society for Engineering Education, 1996), Session 1661 on CD-ROM.
Edmund Russell, "Science and the Environment," in Henry Steffens (editor), Topical Essays for Teachers (Seattle: History of Science Society, 1995), 111-134.
Review of Barton Hacker, Elements of Controversy: The Atomic Energy Commission and Radiation Safety in Nuclear Weapons Testing 1947-1974 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), Environmental History Review 19 (Winter 1995): 83-84.
Review of Sheldon H. Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up (New York: Routledge, 1994), Journal of American History 82 (June 1995): 322-323.
Review of Barend ter Haar, The Future of Biological Weapons (New York: Praeger, 1991), Environmental History Review 16 (Summer 1992): 102-103.
Norma Callanta and Edmund Russell, "Learning the Needs of the Landless," Rural Reconstruction Review 4 (1982): 12-13.
Estrella Fernandez, John Batten, and Edmund Russell. "Radio Support for the People's School," Rural Reconstruction Review 4 (1982): 45-46.
Edmund Russell, "Stoves for Adlas," AT/80 1 (1982): 14-15.
Edmund Russell and Lyn N. Capistrano, Lorena: Ang Kalang Matipid sa Gatong (Silang, Cavite, Philippines: International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 1982).
Edmund Russell and Jackie Sadler, Mabuhay: A Guide for Volunteers at IIRR (Silang, Cavite, Philippines: International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 1982).
Edmund Russell, "Evaluating a Program Based on People's Needs," Rural Reconstruction Review 4 (1982): 7-9.
Edmund Russell, "The Colombian Rural Reconstruction Movement," Rural Reconstruction Review 3 (1981): 70-72.
Research Funding
Fellowship to Rachel Carson Center of the Ludwig Maximilians University and Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany, 35,000 euro, 2010-2011.
National Science Foundation. “Rethinking Technology, Nature, and Society: A Research and Training Program” (SES-0241889), $282,819, 2004-2007. Principal investigator: W. Bernard Carlson. Co-principal investigators: John K. Brown and Edmund Russell.
National Science Foundation. “The Garden in the Machine: The Adaptation of Canine Biotechnology and Human Society” (SES-0220764), $110,000, 2002-2005. Principal investigator.
National Science Foundation CAREER Award. "War and Nature: Science, Technology and Metaphor" (SBER95-11726), $45,000, 1995-1999. Principal investigator.
University of Michigan. Block Grants, 1988, 1989, and 1992.
University of Michigan. Dissertation Enhancement Grant. 1990.
University of Michigan. Dean of Graduate Studies Discretionary Funds, 1989, 1993.
University of Michigan. Population and Environmental Dynamics Project Grant, 1989.
University of Michigan. Matthaei Botanical Garden Grant, 1988.
Invited Lectures and Seminars
“Neurohistory: A New Field for Historians?” Social Psychology Colloquium, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany, May 2011.
“Evolution of the Industrial Revolution: Amerindians, New World Cottons, and Mechanization of the English Cotton Industry.” Alpen Adria Universität, Vienna, Austria, May 2011.
“Neurohistory: A New Field for Historians?” Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany, May 2011.
“Neurohistory: A New Field for Historians?” Rachel Carson Center, Munich, Germany, April 2011.
“Evolution of the Industrial Revolution: Amerindians, New World Cottons, and Mechanization of the English Cotton Industry.” Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, March 2011.
“War and Nature: Parallels between Fighting Humans and Fighting Insects.” DARPA Defense Science Office Speaker Series on Bioterrorism, Arlington, Virginia, July 2010.
“The Evolution of the Industrial Revolution: New World Cottons and Mechanization of the English Cotton Industry." École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, June 2009.
“The History of American Conservation.” Featured Speaker for conference on “Conservation 2.0: Conservation in the Greater Yellowstone: Past, Present, and Future,” Jackson, Wyoming, May 2008.
“The Fierce, the Fleet, and the Fancy: How Gambling Shaped the Evolution of dogs in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Delbert McQuaide Distinguished Lecture, Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, April 2007.
“The Fierce, the Fleet, and the Fancy: How Gambling, Society, and Dogs Coevolved in Nineteenth Century Britain.” President’s Lecture, University of British Columbia, March 2007.
“The Fierce, the Fleet, and the Fancy: How Gambling, Class Relations, and Dogs Coevolved in Nineteenth Century Britain.” Virginia Tech, April 2006.
“The Fierce, the Fleet, and the Fancy: How Gambling, Class Relations, and Dogs Coevolved in Nineteenth Century Britain.” University of Kansas, February 2006.
“The Fierce, the Fleet, and the Fancy: How Gambling, Class Relations, and Dogs Coevolved in Nineteenth Century Britain.” University of Oklahoma, February 2006.
“Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Dogs as Gambling Technology in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005.
“War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects from World War I to Silent Spring.” University of Connecticut, 2003.
“War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects from World War I to Silent Spring.” University of Utrecht, Netherlands, 2003.
“Let Slip the Dogs of Yore: Key Words and Canine Breeding in 19th Century Britain.” University of Utrecht, Netherlands, 2003.
“Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Dog Fighting, Baiting, and Working Class Culture since 1800.” Cambridge University, England, 2003.
“Let Slip the Dogs of Yore: Key Words and Canine Breeding in 19th Century Britain.” Cambridge University, England, 2003.
“Evolutionary History: Prospectus for a New Field.” Cambridge University, England, 2002.
“An Anatomy of Organismal Technology.” Rutgers University, New Brunswick New Jersey, 2002.
“Dog Breeding and the Role of Evolution in History,” Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 2001.
“A History of DDT—A War on Insects.” Household Hazardous Waste Conference sponsored by Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Wichita, Kansas, 2000.
“Already Homeward Bound: The Enduring Legacy of World War II.” Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1999.
"'Speaking of Annihilation': Mobilizing for War against Human and Insect Enemies, 1914-1945.” University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1996.
"'Speaking of Annihilation': Mobilizing for War against Human and Insect Enemies, 1914-1945.” Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 1995.
“From Pollution to Risk: Ecological Protection and Regulatory Paradigms at the Environmental Protection Agency.” United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1995.
“From Pollution to Risk: American Culture and Regulatory Philosophies at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1970-1990.” Stanford University, Stanford, California, 1994.
“Swords and Ploughshares: Chemical Weapons, Insecticides, and Technological Change, 1914-1945.” Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 1993.
“Swords and Ploughshares: Chemical Weapons, Insecticides, and Technological Change, 1914-1945.” National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, 1993.
“The Miracle of DDT in World War II.” University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992.
“What Made DDT Miraculous in World War II?” National Museum of American History, Washington, DC, 1991.
“Tritrophic Interactions in Rice.” University of the Philippines-Los Baños, Los Baños, Philippines, 1990.
“Perils of Pesticides.” Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1988.
Conference Presentations
“Concluding Remarks,” Neurohistory: How Can Neuroscience Help Us Understand the Past? Munich, Germany, June 2011.
“Neurohistory: A New Field for Historians?” New Approaches in Environmental History, Rachel Carson Center, Munich, Germany, April 2011.
“The Evolution of the Industrial Revolution: New World Cottons, Amerindians, and Mechanization of the English Cotton Industry.” American Society for Environmental History, Portland, Oregon, March 2010.
"Dissecting the Life of an Everyday Consumer Product: Charging a Generation: Red Bull Revealed.” Humanities and Technology Association, Charlottesville, September 2009.
“When Elections Go to the Dogs: How Parliamentary Politics Drove Canine Evolution in England in the Nineteenth Century.” World Congress of Environmental History, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2009.
“Concluding Remarks,” Militarized Landscapes conference, University of Bristol, September 2008.
“Urban Evolution: Dogs in English Cities in the 19th Century.” American Society for Environmental History, Boise, Idaho, March 2008.
“Organisms and the History of Technology.” Society for the History of Technology, Washington, DC, October 2007.
“From Genesis to Genetics: The Evolution of Ideas about Origins of Dogs and Dog Breeds in Britain and the USA.” European Society for Environmental History, Amsterdam, June 2007.
Presenter (representing Environmental History), “ESEH Posthumus Publishing Workshop.” European Society for Environmental History, Amsterdam, June 2007.
“The Incredible Evolving Dog: Making an Animal Modern.” Society for the History of Technology, Las Vegas, October 2006.
“Natural Knowledge: Roundtable on the Histories of Science and the Environment.” American Society for Environmental History, St. Paul, MN, March 2006.
“Nicking the Thin Edge of the Wedge: What History Suggests about the Environmental Law of War.“ Environmental Letters/Environmental Law Conference, University of Virginia Law School, 2005.
Presenter, “Roundtable: At the Intersection of Environmental History and the History of Technology: Themes, Methods, and Directions.” Society for the History of Technology, Minneapolis, MN, November 2005.
“Working Like a Dog: Harnessing Canine Energy in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” American Society for Environmental History, Houston, 2005.
“Illegal Biotechnology: Lurchers and Poachers in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Society for the History of Technology, Amsterdam, 2004.
“Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Dogs as Gambling Technology in Nineteenth Century Britain.” American Society for Environmental History, Victoria, British Columbia, 2004.
“From Tools to Toys: Dog Breeding in Victorian England and United States.” American Society for Environmental History, Denver, Colorado, 2002.
“Waging War on the West Nile Virus: What the Past Tells Us about the Potential of History to Inform Present Policy.” European Society for Environmental History, St. Andrews, Scotland, 2001.
“Getting Real: The Challenges of Using Written Products of Undergraduate Research to Achieve Multiple Educational Goals” (with Kathryn Neeley, Donald E. Brown, Michael E. Gorman, and William T. Scherer). American Society for Engineering Education, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2001.
“Genes and Machines (Or, Why We Need to Think about Evolution and Technology).” American Society for Environmental History, Durham, North Carolina, 2001.
“Environmental History at the University of Virginia.” American Society for Engineering Education, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1999.
“Prevention and Escalation: Chemical Arms Races against Communists and Insects during the Cold War.” Society for the History of Technology, Baltimore, 1998.
“University-Wide Collaboration: The Committee on the History of Technology and Environment at the University of Virginia.” American Society for Engineering Education, Seattle, Washington, 1998.
“From Front Halls to Front Pages: Rhetoric of Insecticides in the United States, 1920-1929.” International Congress of History of Science, Liege, Belgium, 1997.
“Hot War in the Cold War: Mobilizing for Chemical Warfare on Human and Insect Enemies in the 1950s.” Organization of American Historians, San Francisco, California, 1997 (session organizer).
“Continued Battle of the Home Front: Total War and Pest Control in the United States, 1945-1949.” American Society for Environmental History, Baltimore, Maryland, 1997 (session organizer).
“Hands-On Ethics: Experiences with Cases in the Classroom” (with Julie M. Stocker). American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, DC, 1996 (session organizer).
“Pollution to Risk: Regulatory Philosophies at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1970-1990.” American Society for Environmental History, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1995.
“Food or Foe: Drawing Cultural Boundaries Around Locusts of the Great Plains.” American Studies Association, Nashville, Tennessee, 1994.
“Swords and Plowshares: Chemical Weapons, Insecticides, and Environmental Change.” Society for the History of Technology, Washington, DC, 1993 (session organizer).
“Atomic Bomb of the Insect World: Rachel Carson, Insecticides, and the Rhetoric of Risk.” Conference on "Danger, Risk, and Safety,” Hagley Museum, Wilmington, Delaware, 1993.
“Safe for Whom? Safe for What? Testing Insecticides and Repellents in World War II,” American Society for Environmental History. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1993.
“’Warfare against the Insects’: Economic Entomology in the United States Department of Agriculture before World War II.” Society for Agriculture and Human Values, East Lansing, Michigan, 1992.
Conference Sessions Chaired or Commented Upon
Chair and Commenter, “The Instability of Technological Identities” Society for the History of Technology, Pittsburgh, October 2009.
Chair, “World War II and the Cold War in the US, Britain, and Czechoslovakia,” World Congress of Environmental History, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2009.
Chair, “Engineering Nature,” Society for the History of Technology, Lisbon, Portugal, October 2008.
Chair, “Jumbo Crosses the Pond: The Multiple Meanings of Zoos in Europe and North America in the Late Nineteenth Century and Beyond.” American Society for Environmental History, Boise, Idaho, March 2008.
Chair, “Technology and the Environment” (workshop sponsored by National Science Foundation). Society for the History of Technology.” Washington, DC, October 2007.
Chair, “Blurring the Boundaries between the Natural and Unnatural (II): Designing Ecosystems.” Society for the History of Technology, Washington, DC, October 2007.
Chair, “Making a Knowledge Professional?” Society for the History of Technology, Las Vegas, October 2006.
Commenter, “Compromise in Comparative Perspective: The Environment and Labor.” Miller Center Fellows Conference, University of Virginia, May 2006.
Chair, “Under the Microscope: Biology, Technology, and Society.” Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA, March 2006.
Chair and Commenter, “Environmental Policy.” Society for the History of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 2003.
Chair, “Postwar Development and Environmental History: The Overlapping Politics of Conservation and Preservation.“ Organization of American Historians, Washington, DC, 2002.
Commenter, “Ecology and Technology.” Society for the History of Technology, San Jose, California, 2001.
Chair, “Teaching Environmental History: A Roundtable Discussion of Practical and Conceptual Issues.” American Society for Environmental History, Durham, North Carolina, 2001.
Chair, “Pioneering or Paying: Choices in Research and Development.” Society for the History of Technology, Munich, Germany, 2000.
Commenter, “Creating Technological Landscapes.” Society for the History of Technology, Munich, Germany, 2000.
Chair, “Biomedical Technology and Ethics I: Philosophical Perspectives on Choosing and Regulating Technology.” Humanities and Technology Association, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2000.
Commenter, “The Price of Commodification.” University of Delaware Hagley Fellows Conference on Consumption and the Environment, Hagley Museum, Wilmington, Delaware, 2001.
Chair, “Technology, Culture, and the Environment.” Society for the History of Technology, Pasadena, California, 1997.
Commenter, “Environmental Policy after Earth Day.” American Society for Environmental History, Baltimore, Maryland, 1997.
Moderator, “Ethics and Design: A Case Study Approach.” American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, DC, 1996.
Chair, “Envisioning Nature: The Politics of Observation.” American Society for Environmental History, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1995.
Commenter, “Environment.” Society for Social Studies of Science, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1995.
Service to Department and School
Director, University of Virginia Science and Technology Policy Internship Program, 2004-present.
Coordinator, Science and Technology Policy Minor, University of Virginia, 2005-present.
Member, Committee on Academic Standards, SEAS, University of Virginia, 2009-present.
Chair, Graduate Committee, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, University of Virginia, 2006.
Coordinator, Senior Thesis Course Sequence (STS 401-402), School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 2003-2004.
Chair, Senior Thesis Course Sequence (TCC 401-402) Advisory Committee, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 2003-2004.
Member, Graduate Affairs Committee, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 2003-2004.
Chair, Engineering Business and Public Policy Minors Committee, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 2004-present (member 2003-present).
Member, Search Committee for Olsson Chair in Ethics, University of Virginia, 2000-2001.
Member, Search Committee for Chair of Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication, University of Virginia, 1999-2000.
Chair, SEAS Common Reading Experience Committee, University of Virginia, 1999-2000; member, 1995-2001.
Member, Teaching Effectiveness Committee, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 1997-2001.
Member, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award Selection Committee, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 1999, 2005.
Service to University
Member, Faculty Implementation Committee for the University of Virginia Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy, 2007-present.
Member, Selection Committee, Miller Center Fellows, University of Virginia, 2004-2005.
Member, Advisory Committee, Forum for Contemporary Thought, University of Virginia, 2001-2004.
Co-director, Forum for Contemporary Thought, University of Virginia, 2000-2001.
Member, Advisory Committee, Program in Environmental Thought and Practice (previously Environmental Literacy Initiative), University of Virginia, 1999-present.
Member, Search Committee, Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Technology and Environment, University of Virginia, 1997, 2001, 2004.
Member, Committee on the History of Technology and Environment, University of Virginia, 1997-present.
Member, Selection Committee, University of Virginia Teaching Fellows Award, 1997.
Member, Selection Committee, Phi Beta Kappa Book Award, University of Virginia, 1995.
Service to Profession
Member, Executive Council, Society for the History of Technology, 2006-2009.
Chair, Search Committee for Secretary, Society for the History of Technology, 2007.
Chair and member, Edelstein Prize Committee, Society for the History of Technology, 2006-2008 (chair 2007).
Member, Da Vinci Prize Committee, Society for the History of Technology, 2007.
Member, Board of Editors, Encyclopedia of American Environmental History, 2005-2011.
Member, Advisory Board, Technology and Culture, 2001-2006.
Editor, Book Reviews, Environmental History, 2001- 2005.
Member, United States National Committee for the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science, 2001-2003.
Chair, Program Committee, American Society for Environmental History Meeting, Tucson, 1999.
Member, Local Arrangements Committee, Society for the History of Technology Meeting, 1995.
Referee
Ambix
American Studies
Cambridge University Press
Environment and History
Environmental History
Environmental Entomology
German Historical Institute
Harvard University Press
Isis
Journal of American History
Mosaic
National Institutes of Health
National Science Foundation
Oxford University Press
Revue d'Histoire de l'Amérique Française
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Technology and Culture
University of Virginia Press
University of Washington Press
University of Wisconsin Press
Mass Media
Brian McNeill, “U.S. Dogfighting Rooted in English Tradition,” Charlottesville VA Daily Progress, 29 August 2007, A1, A9.
Interview on Dog Fighting, "Charlottesville—Right Now,” WINA, Charlottesville VA, 21 September 2007.
Interview on Dog Fighting, "RadioTimes with Marty Moss-Coane,” WHYY, Philadelphia, 22 August 2007 (available at WHYY.org).
Interview on Boll Weevil Eradication, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, broadcast 7 July 2003.
Interview on History of Pest Control, With Good Reason, broadcast 5-11 May 2001 on public radio stations throughout Virginia and Washington, DC.
Interview on War and Nature, Charlottesville Live, broadcast 17 April 2001 on WINA radio, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Quoted in “Chemical Reaction,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, 5 December 2000.
Quoted in “Tech Boom Gives MIT New Cachet,” Boston Globe, 13 March 2000.
Interview on DDT,”Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 16 September 1999.
Professional Societies
American Society for Environmental History
European Society for Environmental History
Society for the History of Technology
Courses Taught
HIST 720: History of Environment and Technology (graduate)
HIST 720: Environmental History of the United States and Britain (graduate)
HIST 723: Global Environmental History
HIUS 702: Introductory Colloquium in American History (graduate)
STS 200: Nature and Technology in British History (undergraduate)
STS 206/HIUS 271: American Environmental History (undergraduate)
STS 101: Language Communication in the Technological Society (undergraduate)
STS 300/500: Science and Technology Policy for Interns (undergraduate/graduate)
STS 401: Western Technology and Culture (undergraduate)
STS 402: The Engineer, Ethics, and Society (undergraduate)
TCC 799: American Environmental History (graduate)
Graduate Students
Major Professor
Thomas Finger, History, “The Engines of Environmental Change: American Agriculture and British Industry, 1800-1900,” Ph.D. candidate
Jaime Allison, co-chair with Christian McMillen, History, “Making Indian Sovereignty: 1970s Energy Development and Indigenous Responses Among the Crow and Northern Cheyenne,” Ph.D. candidate
Barton Elmore, co-chair with Grace Hale, History, "Turning Water into Pemberton's Wine of Coca: An Environmental History of the Coca-Cola Company,” Ph.D. candidate
Laura Kolar, History, co-chair with Brian Balogh. “Conserving the Country in Postwar America: Federal Conservation Policy from Eisenhower to Nixon,” Ph.D. candidate
Eric Stoykovich, co-chair with Peter Onuf, History, “In the National Interest: Improving Domestic Animals and the Making of the United States, 1815-1870,” completed Ph.D. 2009
Committee member (UVA unless otherwise noted)
Evelyn Krache Morris, History, Georgetown University, “Into the Wind: The Kennedy Administration and the Use of Chemicals in Vietnam,” Ph.D. candidate
Katherine Tully, Environmental Sciences, “The Effects of Management and Canopy Tree Functional Type on Nutrient Pools, Retention, and Loss from Coffee Agroforestry Systems in Costa Rica,” Ph.D. completed 2011
Philip Herrington, History, “The Exceptional Plantation: Slavery, Agricultural Reform, and the Creation of an American Landscape, 1837-1864,” Ph.D. candidate
Kathryn Shively Meier, History, "No Place for the Sick": Nature's War on Civil War Soldier Health in 1862 Virginia,” completed Ph.D. 2010 (now assistant professor at University of Scranton)
Adam Dean, History, “An Agrarian Republic,” Ph.D. completed 2010 (now adjunct professor at University of Richmond)
Dolores Jorgensen, History, “Private Need, Public Order: Urban Sanitation in Late Medieval England and Scandinavia,” completed Ph.D. 2008 (now Project Coordinator/Researcher, Department of Ecology & Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden)
Patrick Roberts, Politics, “Crises as Opportunity: Innovation in Federal Homeland Security Agencies, 1946-2004,” completed Ph.D. 2006 (now assistant professor at Virginia Tech)
Peter Norton, History, “Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City,” completed Ph.D. 2002 (now assistant professor of STS at the University of Virginia)
Paul Milazzo, History, “Legislating the Solution to Pollution: Congress and the Development of Water Pollution Control Policy, 1945-1972,” completed Ph.D. 2001 (now associate professor of history at Ohio University)
Advisor for University of Virginia Miller Center Dissertation Fellows
Francesca Russello Ammon, Yale (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies), 2010-2011
Shane Hamilton, MIT (now assistant professor, University of Georgia), 2004-2005
Sarah Phillips, Boston University (now assistant professor, Boston University), 2000-2001
