I am Assistant Professor of Environmental History and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. My research and teaching encompass European and international history, science and technology studies, and the history of the environment. My current book project, Earthbound: A History of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year, examines the global expansion and contested nature of Earth science during the Cold War and collapse of European empires. Seeking to integrate histories of Earth science and global order, this book draws on multilingual archival research conducted across six continents. This work on planetary thought and Earth science builds on my previous scholarship about nationalism in global history. My first book, Chosen Nation: Mennonites and Germany in a Global Era, appeared with Princeton University Press in 2017.
Support for my scholarship has come from institutions including the American Historical Association, the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHSTM), the Fulbright Commission, the German Academic Exchange Service, NASA, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. My work has received awards from the Council for European Studies, the Kansas Historical Foundation, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, among others. I hold a BA from Swarthmore College and a PhD from Harvard University.