I am a historian of science and an environmental historian. Here are some of my current research topics: the history of coral reef science; scientific and Mā’ohi accounts of the origin of Pacific islands; the history of biotechnology in Britain; and the history of cancer genetics.
My first book, Darwin’s Evolving Identity, was published in 2018 by the University of Chicago Press. You can find more information about it here. My most recent publication was a chapter in the new edition of The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean.
Since June 2025, I have been Oral Historian and Curator of Life Sciences at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. If you have suggestions for themes, events, individuals, or institutions to consider as topics for oral history interviews or archival/museum collections, please contact me! SHI offers a wide range of fellowships and travel grants that may be used to join our community and research our historical collections.
I am also a lecturer in history at Tufts University, where I teach courses on environmental history, the history of Oceania, and the history of science.
From 2019 to 2025, I was Historian of the Life Sciences at the Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. In addition to being a major site for biomedical research, CSHL holds extensive historical collections in its library and archives. I encourage humanities scholars at any career stage to consider applying for one of the Center’s visiting fellowships.
In 2024-25, I was the Emanuel Fellow of the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. The fellowship supports my project “Documenting traditional knowledge of coral reefs in the Society Islands and the Tuamotu Archipelago.” Together with my collaborators Hinano Teavai-Murphy and Frank Murphy, I used the fellowship funds to create an oral-history interview program and conduct archival research regarding historical and present-day ideas and terminology relating to reefs and reef formation.
After completing my Ph.D. (Princeton) in History of Science in 2009, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, worked for the Darwin Correspondence Project, and taught as a lecturer in history of science at Harvard University. From 2012 to 2018, I was assistant professor of history at Vanderbilt University, and in 2020-2021 I was senior research fellow in the Program on Science, Technology & Society at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
My research has taken me to archives and field sites on several continents; you will find photos from my travels throughout these pages and several photo essays here.
My writing has appeared in Science and Nature, in Cabinet magazine, and in a number of other academic journals and books. Find more information on my publications here.
About the banner photo: Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 2016, a view from inside the lagoon of the south atoll eastward to the Indian Ocean.