His research focuses on the historical intersections of science, law, and markets, and how the three have shaped our modern, everyday understanding of food, risk, and responsibility. His work explores questions relating to consumerism and the changing relationships between the state, experts, and the public in the production of everyday knowledge: how do we “know” what we know about food and its relation to health? In what ways has our informational environment for food changed with the industrialization of food production and retailing?
Research Interests
- food and culture; science & technology studies; 20th-century U.S. politics; law & society; history of technology
He is trained in history and STS, and his research centers on food, diet and health risk, consumer politics, and market governance.
He was a recipient of the U.S. National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant for his research on the FDA and nutrition labeling. He also worked on agricultural biotechnology in an international development context, helping Oxfam America assess the socioeconomic impact of transgenic cotton on resource-poor farmers.
