About

I am interested in the history of technology, particularly those histories at the intersection of visual culture and work. In Seeing Underground: Maps, Models, and Mining Engineering in America (2014), I examined the development and use of visual tools such as underground maps, photographs, and 3-D models by American mining engineers in the late 19th and early 20th century. These visual tools helped mining engineers exercise their authority over work, and together with new technologies, enabled them to shape and reshape mining labor and the mining landscape.

I am also keenly interested in public history (especially the histories of institutions such as parks and museums), and digital history (particularly text mining, distant reading, and population microdata).

Prior to joining Arizona State, I was assistant and associate professor of history at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York (2007-2015).