Jongmin Lee
Edelstein Fellow
Jongmin Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in science and technology studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. After receiving a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's in the history of science and technology at Seoul National University, he moved to Blacksburg, Virginia in 2006.
In his dissertation titled “Regulatory Engineering in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Research and Development(ORD), 1970-1980,” Lee investigates how engineering and environmental regulation were co-produced in the EPA amid constant organizational changes that shaped the research practices in and professional identity politics of environmental engineering.
At CHF Lee will focus on two types of pollution control technologies—chemical monitoring and catalytic converters—developed or demonstrated by engineers, physicians, and scientists at the EPA’s ORD.
During his stay at CHF Lee aims to review valuable resources to see how scientists and industries initiated or reacted to chemical monitoring and emissions regulation—especially the Eugene Houdry collection (1938-1996), the American Chemical Society’s Division of Environmental Chemistry (1948-) and its Midwest Region (1967-2007)’s Records, and Manufacturing Chemists’ Association Records (1852-1996).