The Center for Contemporary History and Policy
Staff Biographies

David Brock has studied the philosophy, sociology, and history of science at Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, and Princeton University. He specializes in oral history, the history of instrumentation, and the history of semiconductor science, technology, and industry. Before becoming a senior research fellow, Brock was CHF’s director of educational services and lead developer of its chemical history of electronics program. He is editor of and a contributor to Understanding Moore’s Law: Four Decades of Innovation (2006).

David Caruso earned a B.A. in the history of science, medicine, and technology from the Johns Hopkins University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in science and technology studies from Cornell University in 2007. His dissertation research focused on the interaction of American military and medical personnel from the Spanish-American War through World War I and the institutional transformations that resulted in the rise of American military medicine as a unique form of knowledge and practice. Caruso is the Pew Program Manager for Biomedical Sciences and Technologies. His current research interests are the discipline formation of biomedical science in 20th-century America and the organizational structures that have contributed to such formation.

Chi Chan holds a bachelor’s degree in math from Bucknell University, where he also studied physics and philosophy. Formerly the program assistant for CHF's emerging technologies program, Chan also interned at CHF, gathering and analyzing data for the Gordon Research Conferences.

Hyungsub Choi earned a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in the history of science and technology. He earned an M.S. in history of technology at Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in engineering from Seoul National University. Choi took over the center’s electronic materials program in November 2006. He has published extensively on such subjects as the history of electronic manufacturing in post–World War II Japan, RCA’s transistor production, and solid-state innovations.

Rasheedah Cremer received a B.A. in anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University. As manager of the Oral History Program, Cremer is using her training to build a comprehensive and informative collection of scientific and industrial ethnographies. The Oral History Program is built on the core principle that the preservation of the insights and experiences of individuals in the chemical enterprise facilitates an understanding of innovation, achievement, and the development and evolution of scientific disciplines. The program preserves a unique set of perspectives and enables current and future scholarship on 20th- and 21st-century science.

Arthur Daemmrich is an assistant professor in business, government, and international economy at Harvard Business School and a senior research fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. His research and teaching focus on business in regulated environments and international comparative analysis of risk and regulation. At HBS he also plays an active role in an interdisciplinary Healthcare Initiative, advancing scholarship and developing applied lessons for the business of creating and delivering health services and health-related technologies.

Daemmrich was previously the director of the Center for Contemporary History and Policy at CHF. He earned a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University in 2002 and has held fellowships at the Social Science Research Council/Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He has published widely on pharmaceutical and chemical regulation, biotechnology business and policy, innovation, and history of science.

Jennifer Dionisio earned a B.A. in nonfiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also studied sociology. A freelance journalist for both regional and national publications, Dionisio joined CHF in September 2006 as the program assistant for biotechnology.

Hilary Domush completed a B.S. in chemistry at Bates College before earning an M.S. in organic chemistry and an M.A. in the history of science at the University of Wisconsin. As a graduate student, her research focused on 19th-century chemistry in Edinburgh. As program assistant for biomedical sciences and technologies, Domush works on the Pew Biomedical Scholars Program.

Ted Everson, the director of clinical communications at Vital Issues in Medicine (VIM), a medical education company, earned a Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science and technology from the University of Toronto and an M.S. in medical genetics from the University of British Columbia. During his tenure at CHF he founded the biotechnology program, which included focused scholarship on industry development. He is the author of The Gene: A Historical Perspective
(2007), “Genetic Engineering Methods” in The Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Technology (2004), and “Genetics and Molecular Biology” in History of the Exact Sciences and Mathematics (2002).

Victoria Indivero holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Elizabethtown College, where she also minored in biology and history. She was the managing editor of her college newspaper and interned at CHF’s Chemical Heritage magazine before joining the center’s electronic materials program in August 2006. Indivero is earning a master’s degree in journalism at Temple University.

Christophe Lécuyer is a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and he received a doctorate in history from Stanford University. He was a fellow of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology and has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia. Prior to becoming a senior research fellow at CHF, Lécuyer was the program manager of the electronic materials department. He has published widely on the history of electronics, engineering education, and medical and scientific instruments and is the author of Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930–1970 (2005).

Cyrus Mody holds a Ph.D. in science and technology studies from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and materials engineering from Harvard University. He was the 2004–2005 Gordon Cain Fellow at CHF. Mody has published widely on the history and sociology of materials science, instrumentation, and nanotechnology. He is currently working on a book titled Instrumental Community: Probe Microscopy and the Path to Nanotechnology.

Jody Roberts holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in science and technology studies from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Saint Vincent College. He was the 2005–2006 Charles C. Price Fellow and the 2006–2007 Gordon Cain Fellow at CHF. As program manager for environmental history and policy, he explores issues related to regulation, environmental and public health, and sustainability, including human biomonitoring, green chemistry, and energy.

Leah Webb-Halpern graduated from Smith College with a major in history and a minor in Latin American studies. Prior to joining CHF as the oral history program assistant, she was a research assistant at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Webb-Halpern has also presented at four conferences in the last three years and published a scientific article based upon her own data collection to measure levels of tolerance in college students.