Participant Info

First Name
Laura
Last Name
Martin
Country
United States
State
MA Massachusetts
Affiliation
Williams College
Website URL
http://ljanemartin.com/
Keywords
environmental history, history of science, history of ecology, natural history, animal studies, science and technology studies, conservation biology, intellectual history
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am an assistant professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College. From 2015-2017 I was a HUCE Fellow in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, where I organized the Environmental History Working Group.

I investigate the ways in which humans intentionally and unintentionally shape the distribution and diversity of other species. This question has led me to evolutionary ecology, conservation biology, and ultimately environmental history and science & technology studies.

My current book project, Saving Species: The History and Politics of Ecological Restoration, examines the twentieth and twenty-first century history of ecological restoration as an idea, practice, and scientific discipline. In addition to restoration, I have written about biodiversity conservation; wilderness and wildness; evolutionary ecology; community ecology; fieldwork; environmental modeling, monitoring, and forecasting; global environmental justice; and dismantling the sciences/humanities divide.

Recent Publications

Laura J. Martin, “Proving Grounds: Ecological Fieldwork in the Pacific and the Materialization of Ecosystems,” Environmental History 23 (2018): 567–592. pdf

Bradley Cantrell, Laura J. Martin, Erle C. Ellis, “Designing Autonomy: Opportunities for New Wildness in the Anthropocene,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 32 (2017): 156-166. pdf, The Atlantic, Landscape Architecture Magazine

Vânia Proença, Laura J. Martin, Henrique Miguel Pereira, Miguel Fernandez, Louise McRae, Jayne Belnap, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Jaime García-Moreno, Richard Gregory, João Pradinho Honrado, Norbert Jürgens, Michael Opige, Dirk Schmeller, Patrícia Tiago, Chris A.M. van Swaay, “Global biodiversity monitoring: From data sources to Essential Biodiversity Variables,” Biological Conservation 213 (2017): 256-263. pdf

Laura J. Martin, “Mathematizing nature’s messiness: graphical representations of variation in ecology, 1930-present,” Environmental Humanities 7 (2015): 59-88. pdf

Media Coverage
The Atlantic, The New York Times, Nature News, The Atlantic, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Country Focus
Expertise by Geography
Expertise by Chronology
20th century, 21st century
Expertise by Topic
Environment, Science