From September 3-6, 2025, members of the HASTS community gathered at the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA. Founded in 1975, 4S is the largest professional association of STS scholars in the world.
Current doctoral students Ambar Reyes, Diego Cerna-Aragon, and Zachary La Rock presented papers on moderated panels.
HASTS alum Candis Callison PhD ’10, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous journalism, media, and public discourse at the University of British Columbia, served as this year’s presidential plenary speaker in an event titled “Intersections of Indigenous Studies and STS.” Departing from past formats, the plenary unfolded as a conversation between Callison and Dian Million, a Tanana Athabascan critical theorist and associate professor of American Indian studies at the University of Washington-Seattle. The duo spoke to an overflow crowd at the Seattle Convention Center on Wednesday, September 3.
Anne Pollock PhD ’07, meanwhile, oversaw the meeting as current 4S president. Other program alums who presented work included Rijul Kochhar PhD ’22, Burcu Mutlu PhD ’19, Shreeharsh Kelkar PhD ’16, Emily Wanderer PhD ’14, Chihyung Jeon PhD ’10, Anita Chan PhD ’08, Wen-Hua Kuo PhD ’05 (4S president-elect), and Hannah Landecker PhD ’00. On the evening of Friday, September 5, many current and former members of the community joined together for a lively social hosted by MIT Associate Professor of STS Oliver Rollins.
HASTS PhD candidate Taylor Bailey has been named the 2025-2026 Cain Curatorial Fellow at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Taylor researches wildlife management and environmental conservation science in the nineteenth and twentieth century United States.
As he concludes his HASTS dissertation project, Taylor will gain hands-on experience working with the Institute’s curators and staff on a variety of public-facing projects in the history of science and technology.
Congratulations, Taylor!
Caroline White-Nockleby PhD ’25 has received the Obermayer Prize for Writing on the History of Innovation. Part of the Institute’s Ilona Karmel Writing Prizes program, the recognition is awarded annually to a MIT graduate student by the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing.
Caroline’s paper is entitled “‘Learning to Sell Smoke’: The Currency of Northern Chile’s Green Hydrogen Pilot Projects.”
Congratulations, Caroline!
1:00pm – 3:00 pm (Eastern Time)
On campus: E51-275
Dissertation Committee
1:00pm – 3:00 pm (Eastern Time)
On campus: E51-095
Dissertation Committee
Christopher Capozzola
Elting E. Morison Professor of History
Senior Associate Dean for Open Learning
Committee Chair
Stefan Helmreich
Elting E. Morison Professor of Anthropology
Kate Brown
Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in History of Science (STS)
Megan Black
Associate Professor of History