Engineering Studies
Since the early 2000s, A set of networks have coalesced under theumbrella of “engineering studies” to investigate the roles of engineers in science, technology, and medicine. The CHSTM working group forwards this development with a specific focus on historical questions in a forum for early stage work. Engineering studies is a small but growing group of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, engineering educators, and other science and technology studies scholars, who center engineers and engineering as their subjects of analysis. The purpose of this working group is to promote historical research on engineering in the context of the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine by: building a vibrant community via regular meetings with low barriers to participation; sharing work in progress among historians and other engineering studies scholars; and clarifying the role of engineering studies in the history of science, technology, and medicine.
Please set your timezone at https://www.chstm.org/user
Consortium Respectful Behavior Policy
Participants at Consortium activities will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment that is free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking.
Participants may send reports or concerns about violations of this policy to conduct@chstm.org.
Upcoming Meetings
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Friday, January 21, 2022 10:00 am to 11:30 am EST
“Engineering Studies in the Real World”
This session explores where, why, and with what impacts engineering studies is being practiced outside of the academy. We will hear from panelists who pursue history, philosophy, ethnography as engaged practices in the investigation of engineering failures, NASA decision-making, and issues of ethics and responsibility at the National Academy of Engineering. We especially encourage others practicing engineering studies beyond the academy to join us.
Panelists- Julie Mark Cohen, Independent Scholar
- Zachary Pirtle, NASA
- Courtney Hill, National Academy of Engineering
Moderator
- Marie Stettler Kleine, Colorado School of Mines
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Friday, February 18, 2022 10:00 am to 11:30 am EST
Johannes Lenhard and Ann Johnson, "Systems Thinking and the Mainframe Culture of Prediction." Chapter five from their forthcoming book, Prediction as Practice and Culture.
Commentary from TBD.
Click the link below to download the book's table of contents, introduction, and fifth chapter.
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Friday, March 18, 2022 10:00 am to 11:30 am EDT
TBA
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Friday, April 15, 2022 10:00 am to 11:30 am EDT
TBA
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Friday, May 20, 2022 10:00 am to 11:30 am EDT
TBA
Past Meetings
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December 21, 2021
*Note Special Time*
Joint meeting with the History of Technology Working Group
Ryan Hearty, Johns Hopkins University
"Monitoring Water Quality in US Rivers in the 1950 and 1960s: information, communication, and applied sciences"
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October 15, 2021
TBA
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September 24, 2021
A discussion with Jessica M. Smith of her forthcoming book in the Engineering Studies Series of MIT Press, Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility (MIT Press, 2021). Comments from Rider Foley (University of Virginia) and Thomas De Pree (University of New Mexico and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute).
Please read chapter 3 for the discussion (attached). Or, to download the entire book, click here.
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June 18, 2021
No meeting this month. Have a happy and restful June!
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May 21, 2021
“ABET’s Errant Evaluators and the Limits of Accreditation as a Mode of Governance in Engineering Education”
Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer), Sarah Appelhans (U Albany), Rafael Burgos-Mirabal (U Mass Amherst), Alan Cheville (Bucknell), Thomas DuPree (Univ. New Mexico), Soheil Fatehiboroujeni (Cornell), Jennifer Karlin (Minnesota State, Mankato), Donna Riley (Purdue)
Commentator: Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
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April 15, 2021
*Note Special Time* Sangwoon Yoo, Assistant Professor, Hanbat National University, Korea, "Self-defining Waste: Cleanroom Operators and Maintainers in the Semiconductor Industry in South Korea in the 1980s-2000s." Commentator: Ross Bassett, Professor of History, North Carolina State University
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March 19, 2021
Dean Chahim, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Stanford University (United States): "'A Permanent Bloodletting': Engineering, Drainage, and the Sinking of Mexico City, 1947-1967."
Commentator: Vera S. Candiani, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University (United States).
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February 19, 2021
First panel discussion, “Situating Engineering Studies within History of Science, Technology, and Medicine,” with:- Cyrus Mody, Professor in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Maastricht University (Netherlands)
- Trisha Tschopp, PhD Candidate in History and Science Studies, University of California San Diego (United States)
- Heidi Voskuhl, Associate Professor and Graduate Chair, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania (United States)
In the growing field of engineering studies, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, engineering educators, and other science and technology studies scholars center engineers and engineering as their subjects of analysis. This inaugural session of the Engineering Studies working group asks where such scholarship fits in the history of science, technology, and medicine. Via a panel discussion and community conversation we will explore the internationalization of engineering studies, its disciplinary boundary crossings, its emerging trends, and its future directions.
Group Conveners
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Ross Bassett
Ross Bassett is a professor of history at North Carolina State University. He is the author of The Technological Indian (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016) and To the Digital Age (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002). He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Penn and worked at IBM before earning his Ph.D. in history from Princeton. He is currently working on the connections between the American and French engineering education systems in the post-World War II era.
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Ryan Hearty
Ryan Hearty completed his MA in history of science and technology in 2019 at Johns Hopkins University, where he is pursuing his PhD and writing a dissertation on interdisciplinary collaboration and conflict among water quality experts in the United States between 1945 and 1980. As a former engineer, he has worked on the radio communications for NASA's Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and has a masterʼs degree in electrical engineering.
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Matt Wisnioski
Matthew Wisnioski is associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech. He is the author of Engineers for Change (MIT Press, 2012) and co-editor of Does America Need More Innovators? (MIT Press, 2019). He is co-editor of MIT Pressʼs Engineering Studies series and chair of the board of the journal Engineering Studies. He has also written extensively on the intersections of art, science, and engineering. He earned his B.S. in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He is currently writing a book on the rise of innovation culture from World War II to the present.
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