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MEGAN RABY
Curriculum Vitae
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, 2019-present.
Faculty Affiliate, Department of Geography and the Environment, 2019-present.
Faculty Associate, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS-Benson), 2016-present.
Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, 2013-2019.
Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution Archives and National Museum of American History, Washington DC, 2013-2014.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History, Saint Olaf College, Spring 2013.
EDUCATION
PhD, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, December 2012.
Dissertation: “Making Biology Tropical: American Science in the Caribbean, 1898-1963.”
Committee: Gregg Mitman (chair), Lynn Nyhart, William Cronon, Francisco Scarano, Donald Waller.
PhD Minor: Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE), Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
MA, History, Montana State University-Bozeman, 2007.
MA paper: “Making Science Travel: Geographies of Collection and the American Ornithologists’ Union Code of Nomenclature.”
Committee: Michael S. Reidy (chair), Sara B. Pritchard, Brett L. Walker
BS, Earth Sciences, Minor in History, Montana State University-Bozeman, 2004.
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PUBLICATIONS
Book
American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017.
Awarded the History of Science Society’s 2019 Philip J. Pauly Prize.
Reviewed in Agricultural History, The American Historical Review, Biotropica, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Edge Effects, Environmental History, Historia Ambiental Latinoamericana y Caribeña, H-Net Reviews, Isis, New West Indian Guide, Mundo Amazónico, and The Quarterly Review of Biology.
Refereed Articles and Book Chapters
“Beyond Bananas: The United Fruit Company and Agricultural ‘Diversification.’” Agricultural History 97, no. 3, accepted, in press with expected publication in August 2023.
“Science, the United States, and Latin America.” In The Routledge Handbook of Science and Empire, edited by Andrew Goss, 264-274. New York: Routledge, 2021.
“The Study of Ecology in Latin America and the Caribbean.” In The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, edited by William H. Beezley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.780
“‘Slash-and-burn Ecology’: Field Science as Land Use.” History of Science 57, no. 4 (2019): 441–68.
“A Laboratory for Tropical Ecology: Colonial Models and American Science at Cinchona, Jamaica.” In Spatializing the History of Ecology: Sites, Journeys, Mappings, edited by Raf de Bont and Jens Lachmund, (New York: Routledge, 2017): 56-78.
“‘The Jungle at Our Door’: Panama and American Ecological Imagination in the Twentieth Century.” In Ashley Carse, Christine Keiner, Pamela M. Henson, Marixa Lasso, Paul S. Sutter, Megan Raby, and Blake Scott, “Panama Canal Forum: From the Conquest of Nature to the Construction of New Ecologies,” Environmental History 21, no. 2 (2016): 260-269.
Reprinted in Spanish as “‘La jungla ante nuestra puerta’: Panamá y la imaginación ecológica norteamericana en el siglo XX 25.” Translated by Mónica Kupfer. Revista Panameña de Política 25 (2020), 67-78.
“Ark and Archive: Making a Place for Long-term Research on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.” Isis 106, no. 4 (2015): 798-824.
Awarded the History of Science Society’s 2016 Price/Webster Prize.
Invited Articles
“’From Mosquitoes to People’: Marston Bates and the Rockefeller Foundation International Health Division.” Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (July 2, 2019): 1-15.
“The Colonial Origins of Tropical Field Stations: To confront persistent geographic and demographic biases in environmental science, researchers must understand the history of their field sites.” American Scientist 105, no. 4 (2017): 216-223.
Book Reviews
Itineraries of Expertise: Science, Technology, and the Environment in Latin America’s Long Cold War edited by Andra B. Chastain and Timothy Lorek. Isis 112, no. 2 (2021): 433–434.
Science at the End of Empire: Experts and the Development of the British Caribbean, 1940-1962 by Sabine Clarke. Isis 112, no. 1 (2021): 210–211.
Sea of Storms: A History of Hurricanes in the Greater Caribbean from Columbus to Katrina by Stuart B. Schwartz. Hispanic American Historical Review 99, no. 3 (2019): 545-547.
“Science in the Borderlands.” Review of Frontiers of Science : Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850 by Cameron B. Strang. Reviews in American History 47, no. 2 (2019): 168-172.
Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia by Claudia Leal. Environmental History 23, no. 4 (2018): 910–912.
Subalternity vs. Hegemony, Cuba’s Outstanding Achievements in Science and Biotechnology, 1959-2014 by Angelo Baracca and Rosella Franconi. Isis 108, no. 3 (2017): 742-743.
Stations in the Field: A History of Place-based Animal Research by Raf de Bont. Archives of Natural History 43, no. 1 (2016): 178.
Ordering Life: Karl Jordan and the Naturalist Tradition by Kristen Johnson. Centaurus 55, no. 4 (2013): 437-438.
The Maximum of Wilderness: The Jungle in the American Imagination by Kelly Enright. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. May, 2012. URL:http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35629
The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush: Museums and Paleontology in America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Paul D. Brinkman. Journal of the History of Biology 44, no. 1 (2011): 155-57.
With Erin F. Madden and Anne J. Shudy Palmer. Weathering Risk in Rural Mexico: Climatic, Institutional, and Economic Change by Hallie Eakin. Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal 22, no. 10 (2009): 944-46.
Encyclopedia Articles
“United States––Caribbean holdings.” In Encyclopedia of American Environmental History, edited by Kathleen Brosnan, 1309-1311. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2011.
“Corn” in Encyclopedia of American History: Colonization and Settlement 1608 to 1760, edited by Billy G. Smith, 80-81. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2009.
“Potatoes” in Encyclopedia of American History: Colonization and Settlement 1608 to 1760, edited by Billy G. Smith, 304-305. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2009.
Op-Eds and Online Articles
“The Empire of the Dandelion: Environmental History in Al Crosby’s Footsteps,” Not Even Past (February 13, 2019).
“The Tropical Origins of the Idea of Biodiversity,” UNC Press Blog (January 11, 2018).
“Ecology and U.S. Empire in the Caribbean,” UNC Press Blog (November 15, 2017).
“Enclaves of Science, Outposts of Empire,” Not Even Past (November 1, 2017).
Republished in Imperial & Global Forum (November 6, 2017).
Republished in Portal: Magazine of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections (August 27, 2018).
“Climate Change Denial: Why History Matters,” The Daily Texan (October 5, 2017).
“How to Fit a Forest in Five Boxes,” The Bigger Picture: Exploring Archives and Smithsonian History (February 11, 2014).
“On Being a Scientist and a Historian,” AmericanScience (February 2011).
“A Laboratory in the Jungle,” The Bigger Picture: Exploring Archives and Smithsonian History (September 9, 2010).
Interviews and Press
“Teaching Global Environmental History: A Conversation with Dr. Megan Raby,” Not Even Past (September 22, 2021).
“Q&A with Megan Raby, 2019 Pauly Prize Winner,” History of Science Society Newsletter (April 2020)
Rose, C. “The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science,” 15 Minute History (February 22, 2019).
Bronfman, A. “American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science,” New Books Network (September 18, 2018).
Seraj, S. “Climate Change Denial Continues to Affect Public Perception,” The Daily Texan (March 28, 2018).
Vaughan, E. “The Tangled Roots of U.S. Imperialism and Biodiversity Science,” Edge Effects (January 9, 2018).
“Faculty Favorites: Fall into these Environmental Excursions,” Edge Effects (September 12, 2017).
“BHL and Our Users: Megan Raby and the History of Biology,” Biodiversity Heritage Library Blog (September 27, 2011).
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AWARDS
Philip J. Pauly Prize for best first book on the history of science in the Americas, awarded by the History of Science Society for American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science, 2019.
Derek Price/Rod Webster Prize for best article in Isis, 2013-2015, awarded by the History of Science Society for “Ark and Archive: Making a Place for Long-term Research on Barro Colorado Island, Panama,” 2016.
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SELECTED GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
External to UT Austin
Member of Steering Committee, National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF-RCN) 2043708: Expanding the History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine: The United States and its Regional Neighbors, PI Karin Rosemblatt, 2022-2026.
Research Stipend, Rockefeller Archive Center, 2018-2019.
Bordin/Gillette Fellowship, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, 2017.
Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the National Museum of American History, advisors: Pamela Henson and Jeffrey Stine, 2013.
University Prize Fellowship, UW-Madison, Fall 2008-Spring 2009, Fall 2011-Spring 2012.
Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the National Museum of American History, advisors: Pamela Henson and Jeffrey Stine, June 1-August 31, 2010.
History of Science Society Travel Grant, 2009 and 2010.
National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (NSF-IGERT) Fellow, Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE), UW-Madison, Fall 2007-Spring 2008, Fall 2009-Spring 2010.
Smithsonian Institution Short-Term Visitor Travel Grant to research at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, advisor: Pamela Henson, October 1-14, 2006.
Montana State University (MSU) Graduate Achievement Award, 2007.
Best paper by a Master’s student, MSU Department of History and Philosophy, 2006.
UT Austin
Research Fellowship, Institute for Historical Studies, 2021-2022.
Faculty Research Assignment, College of Liberal Arts, Spring 2021.
Faculty Fellowship, Humanities Institute, 2018-2020.
LLILAS-Benson Visiting Resource Professor (VRP) Program sponsorship of Dr. Manuel Valdés Pizzini, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Awarded to nomination proposal co-written with Carlos E. Ramos-Scharrón, Department of Geography and Environment, 2018-2019.
Scholarly Activity Grant, Department of History, 2018.
Special Research Grant, Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018.
College Research Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, Fall 2017.
Research Fellowship, Institute for Historical Studies, 2015-2016.
Summer Research Assignment, College of Liberal Arts, Summer 2015.
Writing Flag Faculty Retreat, School of Undergraduate Studies, May 11-12, 2015.
Fellow of the John E. Green Regents Professorship in History, January-August 2015.
Supplemental College Research Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, Fall 2013.
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PRESENTATIONS
Invited Presentations
UPCOMING: “‘Being Natural’: Science, Environment, Sexuality and the Life of Marston Bates,” Working Group on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine; Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, online, May 5, 2023.
UPCOMING: TBA, Colloquium, Program in the History of Science and Medicine, Yale University, April 24, 2023.
“‘Diversity seems to me a good in itself’: Human and Natural Diversity in the Work of Marston Bates,” Abundance and Loss in Nature: Narratives of Diversity across the Natural and Human Sciences Workshop, History of Science Program, Princeton University and High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, February 3-4, 2023.
“Diversity for Monoculture: The United Fruit Company and Agricultural Research,” Lunchtime Lecture Series, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, November 22, 2022.
Keynote, “Fieldwork and Ethics in the Anthropocene: A Historian’s Perspective,” International Workshop: Academic Activism, Low-Carbon Research and Intersectionality, Low-Carbon Research Methods Group, online, September 30, 2022.
“Ethics and Ecological Fieldwork: Confronting Colonialism in Tropical Research,” Darwin Cluster Diversity Education and Inclusivity Seminar, University of Chicago, online, May 25, 2022.
“Working Naturalist: Episodes in the Life of Marston Bates, Life Scientist for Hire,” Science History Institute, online, March 24, 2021.
“Beyond Bananas: The United Fruit Company and Agricultural ‘Diversification,’” Seminar in Environmental and Agricultural History, MIT, online, September 25, 2020.
“United Fruit’s Experiment Station: Lancetilla as a Laboratory for Corporate Science,” Under Tropical Skies Working Group, Consortium for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, online, June 17, 2020.
Discussant of “Saving Species: The History and Politics of Ecological Restoration,” by Laura J. Martin, Workshop, Manuscript Review Program, Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, August, 20-21, 2019.
“An Experiment on the Land: Science and the United Fruit Company,” Workshop: Latin America as Laboratory, Harvard University, May 2-3, 2019.
Co-leader with Alberto Martinez, Perspectives on Science and Mathematics Workshop, UTeach Institute, Austin, March 5-6, 2019.
“The Colonial History of Tropical Field Stations and the Roots of Biodiversity Science,” Tropical Conservation and Development Program, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida, November 27, 2018.
Seminar and author question and answer session on American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science, Earth and Environmental Sciences Working Group, Consortium for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Philadelphia, PA, online, October 3, 2018.
“Perspectives on Science and Mathematics,” Pre-Conference Retreat, UTeach Conference: Broadening Participation in STEM, Austin, Texas, May 22, 2018.
“Ecology and U.S. Empire: Tensions of a Place-Based Science,” Center for Culture History and Environment 10th Anniversary Symposium: Advancing the Interdisciplinary Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, November 3-5, 2017.
“Tropical Biology and the History of Biodiversity,” Smithsonian Botanical Symposium: Exploring the Natural World: Plants, People and Places, National Museum of Natural History Department of Botany and United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC, May 19, 2017.
Seminar and author question and answer session on “‘The Jungle at Our Door’: Panama and American Ecological Imagination in the Twentieth Century,” Caribbean and Atlantic Studies Working Group, Texas A&M University, February 2, 2017.
Seminar and author question and answer session on “Ark and Archive: Making a Place for Long-Term Research on Barro Colorado Island, Panama,” Biological Sciences Working Group, Consortium for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Philadelphia, PA, online, October 27, 2016.
“Making ‘Jungle Island’: How Barro Colorado Became a Place for Science,” Bambi Seminar, Barro Colorado Island, Panama, June 16, 2016.
“The Panama Canal: From the Conquest of Nature to the Construction of New Ecologies,” with Marixa Lasso, Ciudad del Saber, Panama, June 15, 2016.
“Why do Biologists Work Where They Work in the Tropics?: The History and Geography of Tropical Research Stations,” Tupper Seminar, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama, June 14, 2016.
“A Laboratory for Tropical Ecology: Colonial Models and American Science at Cinchona, Jamaica,” Spaces of Ecological Knowledge: Exploring the Geographies of a Field Science, Interdisciplinary Workshop, Faculty for Arts and Culture, Maastricht University, Netherlands, November 20-21, 2014.
Discussant of “Oceanic environment(s): Places of Marine Botany in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” by Franziska Torma, Spaces of Ecological Knowledge: Exploring the Geographies of a Field Science, Interdisciplinary Workshop, Faculty for Arts and Culture, Maastricht University, Netherlands, November 20-21, 2014.
“Tropical Encounters and the Idea of Biodiversity,” Food for Thought Lecture Series, Austin, Texas, August 18, 2014.
“A Tale of Two Research Stations,” Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, DC, October 23, 2013.
“Mapping the History of Botany: Using JSTOR Plant Science for Historical Research,” 4th Global Plants Initiative Meeting, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama, January 10-14, 2011.
“From Luxuriant Tropics to Biodiversity Hotspot: A History of US biology in the Caribbean,” poster presentation, Conference for Sustainability IGERTS 2, Tempe, Arizona, October 8-10, 2009.
“Situating Biogeography: Toward a historical account of post-Darwinian distribution studies,” poster presentation, 2008 IGERT Project Meeting, Arlington, Virginia, May 18-20, 2008.—
Academic Conferences
“Diverse Monocultures: The United Fruit Company’s Crop Diversification Program and the Transformation of Honduras’s Caribbean Coast,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, March 22–26, 2023.
Panelist, “Histories of Science and Capitalism in Latin America and the Caribbean,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, November 18-21, 2021.
Panelist, “Transcending Nation’s Nature: New Directions in Transnational Environmental History Roundtable,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, March 25-29, 2020. [Accepted, but cancelled due to COVID-19.]
Panelist, “Roundtable: New Directions in the History of Science and Science Education,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Utrecht, the Netherlands, July 23-27, 2019 (Session organizer, session sponsored by the Committee on Education and Engagement).
Session chair, “People, Science, and Environment in Latin America,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Utrecht, the Netherlands, July 23-27, 2019.
Panelist, “Roundtable: After Maria: What all Environmental Historians Can Learn from the Work of Caribbeanists,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, April 10-14, 2019.
“Corporate Science in the Banana Republics: Research and the United Fruit Company Lands,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, November 1-4, 2018.
“Science, Land, and the United Fruit Company,” Opening Plenary Session, Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, St. Petersburg, Florida, May 24-26, 2018.
Session chair, “Economics of Latin American Agricultural Technologies,”Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, St. Petersburg, Florida, May 24-26, 2018.
“Lesson Planning in Perspectives on Science and Math: Exploring Resources for Students and Instructors,” UTeach Conference: Broadening Participation in STEM, Austin, Texas, May 22-24, 2018.
Panelist, “Digital Pedagogy for Environmental Historians: An Interactive Workshop and Roundtable,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Riverside, California, March 14-18, 2018.
“Land Tenure, Land use, and Long-term Research: The Case of El Yunque, Puerto Rico,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, November 9-12, 2017.
“From Tropicality to Biodiversity,” Biodiversity and its Histories, Columbia University and the New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY, April 24-25, 2017.
Session chair, “Science and the State in China, Mexico, and the US,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, 3-6 November 2016.
Species Richness and Revolution in the Caribbean: Transforming Tropical Diversity into a “Global Resource,” VIII Simposio de la Sociedad Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Historia Ambiental (SOLCHA), Puebla, México, August 3-5, 2016.
“Diversity and the Tropics: The ESA and a Century of Tropical Ecology,” in session “The ESA at 100: Historical Perspectives on Ecology and Ecological Management,” 100th Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, August 9-14, 2015.
“Landscapes of Leisure or Labor?: Making a Place for US Field Biology in the Caribbean.” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, November 6-9, 2014.
“A ‘Little Panamanian Community’: Science and Labor on Barro Colorado Island.” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 2-5, 2014.
“Institutionalizing ‘Tropical Biology’: US Science in the Postcolonial Caribbean.” Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, October 31-November 3, 2013.
“‘Nature’s own laboratory?’: The Construction of Barro Colorado Island a Site for Tropical Ecology.” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, April 3-6, 2013.
“‘A Scientist’s Eden’: Disciplining Tropical Biology at Barro Colorado Island.” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, November 15-18 2012.
“A Place for ‘Pure Botany’: The Cinchona Station, Jamaica, and the Origins of American Tropical Ecology,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Madison, Wisconsin, March 28-31, 2012 (Session organizer).
“The Cinchona Botanical Station: American Botany in British Jamaica,” Columbia History of Science Group Annual Meeting, Friday Harbor Biological Research Station, March 9-11, 2012.
“Sixty-one Years of Soledad: University and Corporate Science at Harvard’s Research Station in Soledad, Cuba, 1898-1959,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Montréal, Quebec, November 4-7, 2010 (Session organized with Christine Manganaro).
Participant in the ASU-MBL History of Biology Seminar: “From Linnaeus to the Encyclopedia of Life: Tracking Diversity in the Natural World,” Woods Hole, Massachusetts. May 19-26, 2010.
“Imagining a Tropical Laboratory: US Science in the Caribbean after 1898,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, November 2009.
“‘Birdskins are capital’: Western Expansion and the geography of Nineteenth-Century American Ornithological Collection,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Boise, Idaho, March 12-16, 2008.
“Names and Places: The American Ornithologists’ Union Code of Nomenclature and the Geography of Collection in the U.S. West,” 4th Annual Michael P. Malone Memorial Conference: “Natural and Unnatural Geographies,” Chico Hot Springs, Pray, Montana, January17-21, 2007.
“‘Without rule or example…’: Nineteenth Century Codes of Zoological Nomenclature,” Columbia History of Science Group Annual Meeting, Friday Harbor Biological Research Station, February 24-26, 2006.–
Presentations at UT Austin
Convener and moderator, “Water in the 20th Century,” A Water-Centered Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023 Lozano Long Conference, LLILAS-Benson, Thursday, February 23–Friday, February 24.
Responder, “Whose Decolonization? The Collection of Andean Ancestors and the Silences of American History” by Christopher Heaney, Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, February 20, 2023.
Panelist, with Robert H. Abzug and Bruce J. Hunt, “Writing Biographies in the History of Science: A Roundtable,” History and Philosophy of Science Colloquium, UT Austin, October 21, 2022.
“‘Being Natural’: Science, Environment, Sexuality and the Life of Marston Bates,” Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, April 25, 2022.
Session Chair, “Historicizing Climate,” Climate in Context: Historical Precedents and the Unprecedented Virtual Conference, Institute for Historical Studies, April 22, 2021.
Opening and Concluding Remarks, with co-organizer Erika Bsumek, Climate in Context: Historical Precedents and the Unprecedented Virtual Conference, Institute for Historical Studies, April 22-23, 2021.
“Environmental History, Narrative, and the Work of Marston Bates,” Narrative Across the Disciplines, 2020 Faculty Fellows Symposium, Humanities Institute, February 21, 2020.
Panelist, “Environmental History and the Legacy of Alfred W. Crosby,” Reclaiming the Pre-Modern Past, Institute for Historical Studies, February 4, 2019.
Panelist, “Climate Change, Skepticism, Empiricism, Ethics,” Difficult Dialogues/Planet Texas 2050 Teaching Workshop, Office of the Vice President for Research, Planet Texas 2050, and the Humanities Institute, August 31, 2018.
“American Tropics,” History Faculty New Book Series, Institute for Historical Studies, February 8, 2018.
Responder, “How Louisiana’s Boomtowns Created—and Lost—An Oil Boom, 1901-1935,” by Henry Alexander Wiencek, Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, January 29, 2018.
“Climate Change Denial: Why History Matters,” Notwithstanding the Evidence: Historians on Denialism Series, Institute for Historical Studies, October 5, 2017.
Introductory speaker, “Bridging the Two Cultures: Perspectives on Teaching STEM Educators the History of Science,” Summer Teachers’ Institute: What’s STEM got to do with it? Teaching Social Studies in a Science and Tech-Obsessed World, Hemispheres: the International Outreach Consortium, College of Liberal Arts, June 6, 2017.
Panelist, “Deep History,” Institute for Historical Studies, April 13, 2016.
Panelist, “The Age of Man: What are the Scientific and Social Implications of the Anthropocene?” 10th Annual Polymathic Scholars Chautauqua, College of Natural Sciences, April 4, 2017.
“Tropical Field Stations and the Global Distribution of Ecological Knowledge: Some Historical Perspective,” PopBio Seminar, Department of Integrative Biology, March 2, 2017.
Responder, “Habitat and Habitus: Woodland Peoples in an Agrarian Society,” by Sumit Guha, Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, November 14, 2016.
“The History and Geography of Tropical Science: The Legacies of Field Stations,” Geography Colloquium, September 2, 2016
“Biological Diversity: From a ‘Tropical Problem’ to a ‘Global Crisis,’” Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, February 8, 2016.
Responder, “Writing a Deep History of ‘Humboldt’s Current,'” by Kristin Wintersteen, Workshop, Institute for Historical Studies, December 1, 2014.
“The Tropics and the Idea of Biodiversity,” History and Philosophy of Science Colloquium, UT Austin, September 12, 2014.
“Perspectives on Science and Mathematics: Interactive Presentation,” with Van Herd, UTeach Conference, Austin, Texas, May 20, 2014.–
Presentations at UW Madison
“Taming ‘Jungle Island:’ The Transformation of Barro Colorado Island into a Field Station for Tropical Biology,” History of Science Colloquium, UW-Madison, September 7, 2012.
“Sixty-one Years of Soledad: University and Corporate Science at Harvard’s Research Station in Soledad, Cuba, 1898-1959,” History of Science Brownbag, UW-Madison, October 22, 2010.
“Imagining a Tropical Laboratory,” Center for Culture, History, and Environment Graduate Student Symposium, UW-Madison, April 4, 2009.
“Placing the idea of biodiversity: US tropical biology in the Caribbean after 1898,” History of Science Brownbag, UW-Madison, October 23, 2009.
“People, Plants, and Culture: Bringing Humanistic Inquiry to a Botanical Database,” with Gregg Mitman, Sara Hotchkiss, and Lynn Nyhart, Center for Culture, History, and Environment Colloquium, UW-Madison, October 22, 2008.
“The Natural History of Nearly Everything: A publishing trend,” with Lynnette Regouby and Meridith Beck Sayre, History of Science Brownbag, UW-Madison, March 7, 2008.
“‘Birdskins are capital’: Western Expansion and the Geography of Nineteenth-Century American Ornithological Collection,” Center for Culture, History, and Environment Colloquium, UW-Madison, March 5, 2008.
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TEACHING
Courses Taught at UT Austin
Undergraduate
“Climate Change is History,” UGS 302.
“History of the Modern Life Sciences,” HIS 322G.
“Global Environmental History,” HIS 350L.
“Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U/UTeach Natural Sciences.
Graduate
“History of Science and the Environment,” HIS 380K.
“Introduction to Environmental History,” HIS 381/LAS386.
“Caribbean Environmental History,” HIS 391c.
“History and Epistemology of Science in Science Pedagogy,” HIS 391C.
Advising
Current Advisees
Cindia Arango López, LLILAS.
Felipe Vilo (co-advised with Lina del Castillo).
Raymond Hyser (co-advised with Bruce Hunt).
Ph.D. Committee Member
Gwendolyn R. Lockman, History, in progress.
Bryan Sitzes, Middle Eastern Studies, in progress.
Alyssa Peterson, History, in progress.
Jesse Ritner, History, in progress.
Jonathan Seefeldt, Ph.D. in History, “An Upwelling of Stone: The Precolonial Life of a Climate Infrastructure Project, Rajsamand 1656-1818,” 2022.
Zhaojin Zeng, Ph.D. in History, “Nourishing Shanxi: Indigenous Entrepreneurship, Regional Industry, and the Transformation of a Chinese Hinterland Economy, 1907-2004,” 2018.
Edward Shore, Ph.D. in History, “Avengers of Zumbi: The Nature of Fugitive Slave Communities and Their Descendants in Brazil,” 2018.
Felipe Fernandes Cruz, Ph.D. in History, “Flight of the Steel Toucans: Aeronautics and Nation-Building in Brazil’s Frontiers,” 2016.
Blake Charles Scott, Ph.D. in History, “From Disease to Desire: Panama and the Rise of the Caribbean Vacation,” 2016.
Trevor Mark Simmons, Ph.D. in History, “Selling the African Wilds: A History of the Safari Tourism Industry in East Africa, 1900-1939,” 2015.
Ph.D. Committee Member, External
Katherine F. McLeod, Ph.D. in History, New York University, in progress.
Emily Hutcheson, Ph.D. in History, “The Living Seas: Marine Algae, Symbiosis and the Modern Conception of Coral Reefs 1880-1930,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022.
Qualifying Exam Committee Member
Victor Angbah, Environmental History, in progress.
Rafael Nieto-Bello, Environmental History, in progress.
Felipe Vilo, History of Science and Environment, in progress.
Timothy Vilgiate, History of Science, in progress.
Rodrigo Salido, History of Science, in progress.
Raymond Hyser, Environmental History, 2022.
Atar David, Environmental History, 2021.
Bryan Sitzes, Environmental History, 2021.
Alyssa Peterson, Environmental History, 2020.
Jesse Ritner, Global Environmental History, 2020.
Jonathan Seefeldt, Environmental History, 2019.
Graduate Teaching Assistants Mentored
Rafael Nieto-Bello, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (two sections), 2023.
Diana Heredia-López, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (two sections), 2020.
Sarah Jenevein, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (two sections), 2019.
John Carranza, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (two sections), 2018.
Daniel Jean-Jacques, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (four sections), 2015; HIS 329U (two sections), 2016; “History of the Modern Life Sciences,” HIS 322G, 2017.
Angela Smith, “Perspectives on Science and Math,” HIS 329U (four sections), 2014.
History Honors Thesis Supervisor
Andrea Covarrubias, “‘Save the Bees’: Honey Bee Health: History and Causes of Decline (1909-2011),” 2020.
History Honors Thesis Second Reader
Seth Hamby, “Science, Socialism, and a Spark: H.J. Muller in Texas,” 2021.
Polymathic Scholars, College of Natural Sciences Honors Capstone Thesis Supervisor
Aubrey Medrano, “Recognizing Indigenous Latin American Scientific Contributions,” 2021.
Sarah Hollis, “Galápagos’ Blackberry Problem: A Novel Approach to Rubus Niveus Management in the Galápagos Islands,” 2021.
Daniel Arce, “Wheat: The GMO of Champions,” 2020.
Reid Woodall, “How We Got Here: The Importance of Studying the History of the Scientific Community,” 2020.
Plan II Honors Thesis Supervisor
Gabriela Long, in progress, 2023.
Nina Lemieux, “Australian Eugenics from 1900 to 1961,” 2017.
Sarah Douglas, “The Sea In-Situ: Using Immersive Experiences to Further the Field of Oceanography,” 2015.
Michael E. Baumgartner, “Blind Men and a Neuron: Problems and Perspectives in Neuroscience Research,” 2015. (Selected as a Model Thesis by Plan II.)
Plan II Honors Thesis Second Reader
Shelley Broman, “Dam It!: Austin’s Water Supply, Use, and Technology Past, Present, and Future,” 2016.
Urban Studies Senior Research Project Faculty Adviser
Penelope Ackling, in progress, 2023.
European Studies Capstone Project Second Reader
Michal Ivy, in progress, 2023.
Bridging Disciplines Program (Environment & Sustainability) Students Mentored
Isabel Zubizarreta Otero, Research Project, “Bat Conservation as a Form of Hopefulness,” 2020.
Alyssa Gonzales, Connecting Experience Internship with Austin Achieve, 2019.
Undergraduate Interns Mentored
Nathan Wong, UTeach, 2016.—
Participation in Professional Development Activities
SHIFT classroom training and workshop completed, 2022.
Member, Faculty Learning Community for Teaching Science Literacy and Climate Change, 2020-present.
Consultations with Faculty Innovation Center, 2016-2018.
Perspectives on Science and Math Workshop, UTeach Institute, May 23, 2017.
Independent Inquiry Flag Lunch Workshop, May 15, 2017.
Cultural Diversity & Global Cultures Flags Faculty Lunch Series, 2017.
University Writing Center Course Specialist Consultant Program support granted for his 329u, Fall 2016.
Writing Flag Faculty Retreat, School of Undergraduate Studies, support granted for his 329u, May 11-12, 2015.
Perspectives on Science and Math Working Group, UTeach Institute, January 22-23, 2015.
Perspectives on Science and Math Workshop, UTeach Institute, May 20, 2014.
Past Teaching Experience
Saint Olaf Collegeervisor
“American Environmental History,” History Department, Spring 2013.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II” and “Science in the 20th Century,” Teaching Assistant, History of Science Department, 2010-2011.
Montana State University
“Darwinian Revolution,” “Latin American History,”“American History Before 1860,” “History of Japan,” Teaching Assistant, History and Philosophy Department, 2005-2007.
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SERVICE AND RELATED EXPERIENCE
National and International
Peer reviewer for Harvard University Press, Routledge, Swiss National Science Foundation, University of Chicago Press, University of Toronto Press, and the journals Agricultural History, Arcadia, The American Naturalist, Biological Conservation, Biotropica, Centaurus, Environmental History, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, Isis, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, and Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation.
Interim Editor, Isis, May-August, 2021.
Philip Pauly Prize Committee, History of Science Society, 2021-2023.
Editorial Board member, Osiris, 2019-present.
Advisory Editor, Isis, 2019-present.
Guest Editor, Topical Collection: Social History of Laboratory and Field Practices, Journal of the History of Biology, 2019-present.
George Perkins Marsh Prize Committee, American Society for Environmental History, 2017-2018.
Co-chair, Women’s Caucus of the History of Science Society, 2015-2017.
History of Science Society Forum for the History of Science in America Philip J. Pauly Publication Prize Committees, 2011 (article), 2012 (book), and 2013 (article).
History of Science Society Forum for the History of Science in America Steering Committee, 2010-2013.
UT Austin
LLILAS-Benson Graduate Program Committee, 2022-present.
LLILAS-Benson FLAS Committee, 2022-present.
Faculty advisor, Students Fighting Climate Change student organization, 2022-present.
Consultant course reviewer, UTeach Institute, 2020-present.
Faculty panel, Bridging Disciplines Program in Environment and Sustainability, 2017-present.
Co-chair, History and Philosophy of Science Symposium, 2014-2015, 2019-present.
Department of History, UT Austin
Executive Committee, 2014-2015, 2016-2017, 2018-2019, 2022-2023.
Sustainability Collective, 2019-present.
Co-thematic Coordinator, “Climate in Context: Historical Precedents and the Unprecedented,” Institute for Historical Studies, 2020-21.
Committee on Governance and Service, 2020-2021.
Undergraduate Research Coordinator, Spring 2017-2020.
Committee on Equity, Subcommittee on Promotions, Spring 2019.
Committee on Equity, Summer 2018-Spring 2019.
Curriculum Action Team, 2017-2018.
Institute for Historical Studies Steering Committee, 2016-2017.
Executive Committee, 2016-2017.
Salary Committee, 2015-2016.
Special Committee on Peer Observation, 2014-2016.
Executive Committee, 2014-2015.
Jan Carleton Perry Prize committee for best master’s report or thesis written in the university History Department, 2014.
Other Service and Experience
UW Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) Graduate Student Associate, 2007-2012.
History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the University of Wisconsin graduate student blog co-administrator and author, 2011-2012.
Project assistant, UW-Madison Department of the History of Science, 2012.
Project assistant, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation “Plants and their Collectors: A Mapping Tool for the JSTOR Plants Database and the History of Botany,” 2010-2011.
Planning committee, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Annual CHE Graduate Student Symposia, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012.
UW CHE Graduate Student Representative, Fall 2009-Spring, 2010.
Workshop for the History of Environment, Agriculture, Technology and Science (WHEATS) planning committee, 2010.
Research Assistant, MSU History and Philosophy Department, 2005.
Museum of the Rockies Paleohistology Lab Assistant, 2002-2003.
Museum of the Rockies Paleontology Field Crew, 2000-2003.
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LANGUAGES
Spanish, reading.
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Historical Association
American Society for Environmental History
Biographers International Organization
International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Group
Lone Star History of Science Group
Sociedad Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Historia Ambiental
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MEGAN RABY 