HST Alumni Newsletter
Issue No. 2, October 2003
In this issue:
. . . [Message from the
Director]
. . . [Updates from
Our Alumni]
WELCOME
When we sent the first
Alumni Newsletter last year we boldly declared that it would inaugurate
a new tradition in the Program of History of Science and Technology.
Now that we are sending a second Newsletter it really is a tradition.
We hope that it will allow us to keep in touch with you and allow you
to more readily keep up with your classmates.
Many of you have already
heard the unsettling news that John Beatty has left the University of
Minnesota for a position in the philosophy department at the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver. John was a fine colleague, friend and
teacher to so many of us. We will miss him. Despite the tough financial
times we have approval to hire a replacement, and we have already
advertised for the position. We hope that in next year's newsletter we
will be able to announce the name of our new colleague in the history
of modern biology. So far the program has not suffered significantly
due to state budget cuts, but we are worried that things will get worse
if the economy does not turn up soon. Of course, the University of
Minnesota is not in a unique position with regard to severe budget cuts.
After last year's
record-breaking five Ph.D.s, we returned to a more normal output with
two new ones, Ioanna Semendeferi and Jay Aronson. To learn what they
are up to now, see below. However, we welcomed six new Ph.D. students
this fall. No doubt you will become familiar with them in the coming
years.
The drive for Graduate
Student Fellowship funds has been partly successful and continues. Your
generous contributions have played an important part in our success.
The Tomashes have pledged $150,000 and we have raised nearly $50,000
for the Roger Stuewer fund. While we hoped to have raised more money by
now, the university development office has told us that we did quite
respectably, considering that we started this fund drive in the worst
economic downturn in recent memory. The university is still matching
contributions to the Roger Stuewer Fellowship Fund, so that if you wish
to make a contribution this year, it will in effect be doubled. Contact
Barbara or me to make a contribution, which is, of course, tax
deductible.
Many of us, faculty and
students, will be at the HSS meeting in Cambridge this November. We
hope to see you there, and remember that the Program always hosts a
reception in my room for the Minnesota crowd one evening, usually on
Saturday. Advance notice: A joint HSS and SHOT annual meeting will be
held in Minneapolis 2-6 November 2005.
Best wishes, and we hope
to see you soon.
Alan Shapiro
ALUMNI UPDATES
Joe Cain (1995)
London
(August 2003) I've just
been promoted to Senior Lecturer at UCL. Just ending a sabbatical, as
the "Frederick H.Burkhardt Resident Fellow in Evolutionary Biology," at
the American Philosophical Society Library. I've been elected president
of the Society for the History of
Natural History, and continue as Associate Editor for Archives of
Natural History.
Writing: In addition to
the regular stream, the APS has accepted my project, Upgrading
Evolution: Documents of the Committee on Common Problems of Genetics,
Paleontology, and Systematic which should appear in 2004 as a
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Monograph on the
American synthesis period in evolutionary studies in nearly, nearly
completed. Will be in the publisher's hands in the Autumn. More detail
can be found on my UCL Web
page.
Joe at Bartram plaque
Dr. Joe Cain
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT UK
Office: 0207 679 1328 in UK
[+44 207 679 1328 overseas]
Website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain/
also President, Society for the History of Natural History
Website: http://www.shnh.org
Robert Ferguson (1996)
Takoma Park, MD
(July 2003) I have two
items to report:
- My new e-mail address is rob@furglu.com
- From 2003-04, I will be the Ramsey Fellow at the
National Air and Space Museum
Robert Ferguson
Takoma Park, MD 20912
John P. Jackson,
Jr.(1996)
Boulder, CO
(August 2003) I'm happy
to say that I finished a book manuscript this summer. Nadine Weidman of
Harvard University and I completed Science, Race, and Racism;
a survey of the race concept in western science for ABC-Clio under the
editorship of Mark Largent, previously of the University of Minnesota,
now at the University of Puget Sound.
Meanwhile, I am still
working on the book on how segregationists used scientific arguments in
the American South in the 1950s and 1960s. This book continues to grow
and I hope to have a complete manuscript sometime this academic year.
I have been invited to
join an interdisciplinary seminar here at the University of Colorado.
The de Tocqueville Seminar is sponsored by Center to Advance Research
and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS). My project for this
seminar is entitled "Nazi Racism, American Racism: Toward a Comparative
History." This grows out of the segregation science book. In that book
I explore how easily Nazi and Neo-Nazis fit into the White South's
defense of racial segregation. For the seminar, I hope to work out some
historiographic implications of the ease by which Nazis worked with
Americans in the 1930s and after World War II.
If anyone wants to know
more about my work, I have papers and project descriptions posted to my
website.
John P. Jackson, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
270 UCB, Hellems 94
University of Colorado
Boulder CO 80309-0270
Tel: (303) 492-8739
Email: john.p.jackson@colorado.edu
Website: http://comm.colorado.edu/jjackson/
Shawn Rounds (1996)
Saint Paul, MN
(September 2003) While
still in graduate school, I began working as a research historian with
a local consulting firm, Hess Roise and Company, which specializes in
architectural, engineering, and cultural resource history and
preservation. While with Hess Roise, I got to traipse around all sorts
of old buildings studying them, as well as doing field surveys of a
couple hundred bridges as part of historic bridge inventories for the
Minnesota and Michigan state transportation departments. Of course, I
also dug into primary sources to put together histories of these
objects and to place them within the greater context of the built
environment. Most of my projects culminated in nominations for the
National Register of Historic Places and HABS/HAER reports (Historic
American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record) for
the National Park Service.
Since 1998, I've been an
electronic records archivist with the Minnesota State Archives, which
is part of the Minnesota Historical Society. The State Archives
collects selected records from government entities at all levels, from
the governor's office (yes, we got Jesse Ventura's papers) down to
townships and school districts. My job is to help these folks manage
their electronic records, in all formats and media from databases on
mainframes to word processing documents and e-mail, so that they remain
accessible and uncorrupted for as long as they're needed. Since the
State Archives keeps historical records permanently, that's no small
task! Much of my time is spent developing, writing, and promoting
guidelines and standards, as well as serving as project manager for
several federally-funded grant projects. When I've had spare time, I
also edit publications for two professional organizations, including
Crossroads, the newsletter of the National Association of Government
Archivists and Records Administrators (NAGARA) Committee on Electronic
Records and Information Systems.
While I've been doing
all of this, my partner of eighteen years, Lyda Morehouse, has been
busy publishing a string of science fiction novels which have garnered
some national awards and recognition (but, alas, no fortune yet to
follow the fame). You can check out her work at http://www.lydamorehouse.com.
On the family side, we
suffered a great tragedy with the loss of our daughter, Ella, who was
stillborn on August 5, 2002. Only the support and love of friends and
family has seen us through these past months. Although we still grieve
for her and always will, we are now celebrating the life of our son,
Mason, who was born on July 24, 2003. This new, very active, addition
to our family has been keeping us wonderfully busy!
Shawn Rounds
State Archives Department
Minnesota Historical Society
345 Kellogg Boulevard West
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102-1906
Tel: (651) 296-2953
Email: shawn.rounds@mnhs.org
Michael Buckley (1997)
State College, PA
(August 2003) Michael
Buckley is currently completing his Ph.D. In English at the
Pennsylvania State University. His dissertation is an ecocritical
examination of the character of the naturalist in early American nature
writing, covering literary natural historians from William Bartram to
Henry David Thoreau. In his spare time, Mike enjoys kayaking on the
many whitewater rivers rushing off the Appalachian Mountains.
Michael G. Buckley
Tel: (814) 861-7081
Email: mikebuckley@psu.edu
or mgb132@psu.edu
Stephen B. Johnson
(1997)
Colorado Springs, CO
(August 2003) Stephen
Johnson is an associate professor in the Space Studies Department of
the University of North Dakota, while living in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. Over the last year, Stephen's been doing the usual faculty
teaching & research, with two articles on the history of space
business and management coming out during the year. The major new
activity is that he will be the general editor for Space Exploration
and Humanity, a two volume encyclopedia of space history that will be
published by ABC-CLIO, scheduled currently for 2006.
Stephen B. Johnson
Associate Professor, Space Studies Dept.
Editor, Quest
University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND 58202
Tel: (719) 487-9833
Email: sjohnson@space.edu
Chris Young (1997)
Milwaukee, WI
(July 2003) Maybe every
year just gets bigger than the one before, but this one will be tough
to top. Since last summer, I started as a full-time assistant professor
in the biology department at Alverno College in Milwaukee. Believe it
or not, this was actually my goal when I entered the Program in History
of Science and Technology at Minnesota, although I could not have
foreseen ending up at a women's college in Wisconsin. Also in the fall,
I served as the local arrangements chair for the History of Science
Society's meeting in Milwaukee. Actually, this is not a big deal, since
HSS now has an office that handles virtually all details of the
meeting. I wrote the dining guide. That was about it for them. I
continue to serve as the secretary for the International Society for
the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology. Along with
Keith Benson and some excellent folks in Vienna, we put on an amazing
meeting in mid-July, with 424 attendees from 42 countries. This was a
big deal, for me anyway. My book, out last year (In the Absence of
Predators, Nebraska), was reviewed in the latest issue of ISIS. As
with other reviews, the consensus seems to be that it is worth reading,
although apparently no one is buying any copies. I'm working to
complete a manuscript for ABC-CLIO's Science and Society series... any
day now, Mark! There's something else. What was it? Oh yes, as most of
you know by now, Michelle and I are now proud parents of Riley Daine
Young, a baby girl born May 3. We're very excited to have joined the
parenting ranks of Mary, Kai, and Juan (by mere days). I do not plan to
attend HSS in November, so I'll be looking forward to keeping in touch
via email.
Chris Young
Alverno College
Department of Biology
3400 S. 43rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53234
Email: cyoung@aero.net or
chris.young@alverno.edu
Website: http://www.aero.net/cyoung/
Erik M. Conway (1998)
Hampton, VA
(August 2003) I'm
currently (still?) working as a contract historian for the NASA Langley
Research Center. Last June I completed a book-length history of
supersonic transport research that is currently under consideration at
the Johns Hopkins University Press. I'm now working on a history of
NASA atmospheric science research that I'm supposed to have done in
2005. After a bust of a winter ski season (zero hours on the snow) I've
managed to do quite a bit of whitewater kayaking on the Lehigh and
Youghigheny Rivers in Pennsylvania this summer with Mike Buckley. My
bruises from the Youghigheny have even healed. I hope to see lots of
Minnesotans on the conference circuit this fall.
Erik M. Conway
Visiting Historian
NASA Langley Research Center
Email: E.M.Conway@larc.nasa.gov
Diana Kenney (1998)
Marstons Mills, MA
(August 2003) I don't
have any news to report this year -- my life is essentially the same as
last year except my son is closer to being in school! (He enters
kindergarten in September.) I'm still freelance writing and editing,
and working part-time for the Cape Cod Times.
Diana Kenney
Tel: (508) 428-2722
Email: dkenney@capecod.net
Amy Foster (1999)
Washington, DC
(August 2003) In May
2003, Amy Foster was awarded the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim
Fellowship at the National Air and Space Museum. She will be in
residence in Washington, DC for a year beginning in September. The
fellowship will give her the opportunity to complete research and the
writing of her dissertation on the politics and logistics at NASA
during the 1970s and 1980s once the decision was made to send women
into space. In addition, Amy's chapter on women in aviation during the
1990s will appear in print as part of the rerelease of Debbie Douglas'
book Women in Aviation in America: 1945 — Present by the
University of Kentucky Press in the late fall.
I'll continue to get and
check email through my Auburn address. But I can be reached as well at FosterA@nasm.si.edu.
Mark A. Largent (1999)
Tacoma, WA
(August 2003) I'm
teaching history of science and American history classes at the
University of Puget Sound as a visiting assistant professor. The
book-that-was-formerly-known-as-my-dissertation is just about done and
I am preparing to send it off to Johns Hopkins University Press.
Mark Largent
University of Puget Sound
Department of History
1500 N. Warner Street, #1033
Tacoma, WA 98416-1033
Tel: (253) 879-3977
Email: mlargent@ups.edu
Al Martinez (2000)
Boston, MA
(September 2003) Having
just now completed his two year term at the Dibner Institute for the
History of Science and Technology, Al Martinez was finally pried off of
his office door frame, and forcefully evicted and dispossessed, as he
and his material and digital belongings were summarily displaced into
the real world. At this moment what once were the entrails of his
office now sprawl in cardboarded cubed forms in the center of his
bedroom floor. Remember that Marx defined modernity as the period when
everything solid dissolves in the air. By the way, the Dibner building
itself will one day be demolished, as the Sloan School of Management of
MIT takes over the site. (karma going around and coming around.)
Happily, the Institute will live on. Meanwhile, aside from peanut
brittle and caramel corn, Al's recent past has included book reviews,
TV interviews, an active role in the Association of Postdocs of MIT,
articles about Ritz, Einstein, and Euler, (or about truth, beauty, and
the American way) and the uphill treacherous struggle to publish a book
manuscript (or two). Lessons we already knew but should remember:
Publishers are looking for books that resemble other books; If you
don't say what you Don't mean, people will think That's what you mean;
Don't expect the "review process" to be fair and square, it's just
square. Oh well, keep sending it in, sooner is better than later, of
course, but later is better than posthumous. Currently, it seems, Al
Martinez will be a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Philosophy and
History of Science at Boston University, and has a grant from the
American Institute of Physics. He's also waiting to hear about a
possible job at the AIP, the prospects looked good, but the plot
thickened. So often it does! Still-current projects: Physical
Mathematics, or, Minus Times Minus is What?, and, The Neglected Science
of Motion: A History of Kinematics from Ampere to Einstein.
Alberto Martinez
Boston University
Email: wendigo00979@yahoo.com
or amartinez@dibinst.mit.edu
David Sepkoski (2002)
Oberlin, OH
(June 2003) I'm pleased
to announce that our daughter, Ella Sally Sepkoski, was born at 3:26
p.m. on June 17. She weighed 7lbs 8oz, and was 20.5 inches long. Not
bad for a kid who was almost 2 weeks early. Dara had to have a
c-section, but both baby and mom are fine, and are now home recovering.
We welcome calls at 440.774.4328. If you'd like to see some snaps of
the baby, point your browser to http://home.earthlink.net/~dsepkosk/Ella.htm.
David Sepkoski
Oberlin College ? Department of History
Rice Hall 301
10 N. Professor St.
Oberlin, OH 44074
Tel: (440) 775-6708
Email: sepk0003@tc.umn.edu
Jay Aronson (2003)
Jamaica Plain, MA
(August 2003) The past
year has been quite exciting for me. Most importantly, my unbelievably
wonderful wife, Tamara, and I were married in October 2002. She is
originally from South Africa, spent two years as a Peace Corps
volunteer in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and is currently completing her
doctorate in public health. We honeymooned in the Western Cape region
of South Africa, which is home to Cape Town, several wine valleys, and
some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. The highlight of the
trip was a 4-day hike along the coast of the Indian Ocean called the
Otter Trail. It is considered by many people (including me) to be the
most beautiful hike in the world. Upon returning to Boston, I spent the
next five months chained to my desk completing my dissertation on the
development of forensic DNA analysis in the American criminal justice
system. I am happy to report that I successfully defended in June 2003.
I am now a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Program on Science, Technology
and Society at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Jay D. Aronson
Tel: (617) 522-5859
Email: aron0031@tc.umn.edu
Ioanna Semendeferi
(2003)
Houston, TX
(Aug 2003) Ioanna
Semendeferi graduated with her Ph.D. degree in May 2003. Her
dissertation is entitled: "Exploiting Uncertainty in Radiation Limits:
Monticello Dissenters, Health Physicists, and the Civilian
Nuclear-Power Debate." She is currently looking for ways to convert her
dissertation into a book. She spent the summer in Greece visiting
Athens, Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, and the islands of Crete, Ydra, and
Skiathos. She also spent some time in New York City. She is living in
Houston with her husband, Ioannis Pavlidis, who is associate professor
at the Computer Science Department of the University of Houston. They
are travelling frequently around the world and enjoy swimming year
round.
Ioanna Semendeferi, Ph.D.
Houston, TX 77007
Tel: (713) 864-7366
Email: seme0002@tc.umn.edu
