Edmund Russell
Professor of History, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Bio
Edmund Russell studies environmental history, history of technology, and American history. Major research topics have included the environmental and technological history of war, coevolution of human and non-human populations, and the environmental and technological history of capitalism. He is currently writing a history of the U.S. transcontinental telegraph, which was built in 1861.
Professor Russell has published many articles and books, including:
- Edmund Russell, Greyhound Nation: A Coevolutionary History of England, 1200-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
- Sally K. Fairfax and Edmund Russell (editors), Guide to U. S. Environmental Policy (CQ Press, 2014).
- Edmund Russell, Evolutionary History: Uniting History and Biology to Understand Life on Earth (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
- Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell (editors), Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004).
- Edmund Russell, War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Professor Russell’s honors and positions include:
- Guggenheim Fellow
- President, American Society for Environmental History
- Dibner Distinguished Chair in the History of Science and Technology, Huntington Library
- Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians
- Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor of United States History, University of Kansas
- Vice President for Research, American Historical Association
- Leopold-Hidy Prize, American Society for Environmental History and Forest History Society
- Edelstein Prize, Society for the History of Technology
- Forum for the History of Science in America Prize
- State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award
- Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award, University of Virginia
- National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- Rachel Carson Prize, American Society for Environmental History
- A. with distinction and highest honors, Stanford University
Professor Russell has a keen interest in interdisciplinary research and teaching. He earned a B.A. in English and a Ph.D. in biology en route to becoming a historian. His research methods often synthesize history with biology, especially ecology, evolution, and neuroscience. Professor Russell came to Carnegie Mellon in 2019 partly because of the university’s emphasis on creative, interdisciplinary work.
Professor Russell encourages applications from potential graduate students in environmental and technological history. He is especially interested in applicants who want to do risky, pathbreaking research that synthesizes history with other disciplines. Professor Russell encourages those who might want to work with him to get in touch to discuss interests before applying. Professor Russell’s graduate advisees have gone on to tenure track jobs at research universities (e.g., Ohio State University) and teaching-intensive institutions (e.g., Christopher Newport University), as well as to employment in government (U.S. Department of State). Their research has won prizes. Leif Fredrickson’s dissertation, for example, won the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Humanities and Fine Arts (awarded to one dissertation in the United States or Canada) and the Michael Katz Award for the best dissertation from the Urban History Association.