I am a historian with expertise in the history of technology, capitalism, and the environment. My focus is the energy industries in twentieth century United States. My forthcoming 2026 book, Natural Risk, argues that the Texas response to environmental and economic hazards was shaped from the bottom-up by oil workers, contractors, engineers, and entrepreneurs who accepted a very high level of “natural” risk. This set the parameters for Texas industrialization after 1920. I am currently developing two book projects, one on electricity and mining development in the US Southwest, especially Colorado and another on the global urban history of energy producing cities. I have published articles on the environmental and social history of energy technology in several venues. Along with articles on oil industry political economy and labor structures, I recently published an article tracking the linked histories of oil detection technologies and early computing and an article on rural electrification and central Texas flood control is forthcoming. I am an editor and contributor to the 2023 volume American Energy Cinema which examines the energy industries in twentieth-century Hollywood film. I am currently working on articles tracking the economic and social impacts of oil industry labor migration along the US Gulf Coast and another on the environmental impact of roadside gas stations. In spring 2025 I began a digital mapping and oral history project tracking the history of electrification in the US West.
keywords
History of science and technology, energy history, American social history, cultural history, environmental history, history of capitalism, industrialization
ASEN 3046 - Introduction to Humans in Aviation
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
Investigates the history of crewed aviation accomplished through a review of the history of flight, the physiological and psychological limitations facing aviators, and investigates the human related causal factors in aviation accidents. The course also looks at the social and economic impacts of aviation in modern society. Not accepted as a Technical Elective for ASEN majors. Approved for upper-division Humanities and Social Science elective for engineering students.
COEN 1500 - CEAS First Year Seminar
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
The CEAS First Year Seminar is a small, discussion-based course designed to provide incoming first-year students a foundation to thrive as university scholars, meeting with them from their first day of classes through getting back the results of their first round of midterms. The seminar is a combination of a common curriculum (40% ) exploring texts concerning creating an engineering identity, the purpose of an engineering education and the larger values of the college community (mattering, belonging, agency, ownership, inclusivity and service) and a unique curriculum (60%) in which faculty members cultivate these values through their own areas of expertise and interest. This seminar represents the commitment of dedicated faculty to help incoming first-year students become an active and contributing part of the intellectual, inclusive, healthy, inquisitive, diverse, sustainable and socially engaged culture of the College of Engineering.
COEN 1830 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Explores topics of interest in engineering. Content varies by instructor and semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
ENES 1010 - Humanity in a Technological Age
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
This seminar considers what it means to be human in an increasingly technological age. Designed for engineering students, it also looks at the role of technology designers and creators in shaping the human environment. Students focus on sharpening their written and oral communication skills through a series of iterative assignments and projects. Fulfills College of Engineering writing requirement for first-year students only.
ENES 2160 - Energy, Society, and the Climate Question
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
Examines the social, political, and cultural dynamics of energy production and consumption with a focus on the �green� energy transition. Analyzes historic and contemporary efforts to address climate change in the US and around the globe and contextualizes technical and infrastructural developments; students collectively identify barriers and develop possible solutions. Degree credit not granted for this course and ENES 3160.
ENES 3160 - Energy, Society, and the Climate Question
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
Examines the social, political, and cultural dynamics of energy production and consumption with a focus on the �green� energy transition. Analyzes historic and contemporary efforts to address climate change in the US and around the globe and contextualizes technical and infrastructural developments; students collectively identify barriers and develop possible solutions. Degree credit not granted for this course and ENES 2160.
ENES 3843 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
Explores different important themes in engineering, ethics, and society; check with department for specific semester topics. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Formerly HUEN 3843.
HIST 4800 - Special Topics in Global History
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Organized around themes that change yearly, this class allows students to study and research processes, phenomena, and events of global significance in historical context. Will stress historical subjects that span multiple geographic regions of the globe. Topics could include the global history of: the arms trade; slavery; health and disease; youth culture; women's rights; genocide, the environment, migration, economic trade, warfare exploration etc... May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
HUEN 3843 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020
Explores different important themes in the humanities, check with department for specific semester topics. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Formerly HUEN 3843.
