Biography
My most recent publications: on "Soybeans, Combines and Agricultural ‘Industrialisation’" for Environment and History (May 2026), on “Dates: Civilization’s Sweetest Indulgence.” for JSTOR Daily (August 2025), and on“Mary Engle Pennington (1872-1952)” (March 2025) for the Science History Institute have closely aligned with my main areas of expertise in the histories of plant exploration, agriculture and the environment. But I have also written multiple science and technology entries on subjects as varied as "Paleoclimatology" for Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History (2013), early computers ("Univac" and "Whirlwind") in Research and Discovery: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science (2008), and “Gilded Age Literature and Art in the Mining and Petroleum Industries” in the The Industrial Revolution in America (ABC-CLIO, 2006), among many others.
Meanwhile, after working at public history venues in the U.S., including five years as a gardener and garden tour guide at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and as a summer intern for the Indiana Historic Landmarks Association and the National Park Service in Natchez, Mississippi, I developed an abiding interest and professional grounding in the history of gardens and rural landscapes as well as architecture.
Education
- Ph.D. - Purdue University (West-Lafayette, IN), History (December 2004)
- M.A. - Purdue University, Graduate Program in American Studies (May l994)
- B.A. - Washington and Lee University (1982)
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