Past Postdoctoral Fellows

Victoria Aschheim

PhD Princeton University

Lecturer in Music, Dartmouth College

Michael Barany

PhD Princeton University

Lecturer in the History of Science, University of Edinburgh

Two very fruitful years in the Society of Fellows helped me develop my research and writing on the international and global history of mathematics and science in exciting new directions. I visited new archives in the United States, Brazil, India, and Australia, and revisited some key collections from my doctoral research, accessing a wealth of material to support my current projects and launch new lines of inquiry. I was able to share this work and begin new collaborations on campus and across the U.S. and abroad, and to publish several articles based on my work at Dartmouth. A new course I developed on the history of "Nations and Numbers" let me share a major and growing area of current scholarship with Dartmouth undergraduates. I am grateful for the many friends, colleagues, and mentors I met through this fellowship. I will be joining the collaborative, interdisciplinary unit in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh, contributing to both research and teaching in the history of science.

Mohamad Ballan

PhD University of Chicago

Assistant Professor of History, Stony Brook University

Yesenia Barragan

PhD Columbia University

Assistant Professor of History (Modern Latin America), Rutgers University

Nathalie Batraville

PhD Yale University

Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies, Concordia University

Rebecca Clark Clark

PhD University of California, Berkeley

Lecturer, Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, Dartmouth College

Emilie Connolly

PhD New York University

Assistant Professor of Early American History, Brandeis University

Caitano da Silva

PhD Penn State University

Assistant Professor of Physics, New Mexico Tech

My research is dedicated to understand how lightning and electricity in our planet work, and what are their impacts in the Earth system. To do that, I use well established tools in physics, such as electrodynamics and plasma physics. In a typical Summer day you may find me on a mountain-top facility performing lightning experiments, while in the Fall and Spring you'll find me on New Mexico Tech's campus teaching (something like freshman electromagnetism) or working with students to develop software to analyze and simulate geophysical phenomena.

It was during my 2.5 years as Dartmouth Society of Fellows postdoc that I became the teacher-scholar that I am today. This is a unique program that provided me with: (1) teaching experience at a top school in the country, (2) academic freedom to undertake research projects I deemed important and exciting, (3) peer support from other postdocs in the job market, and (4) challenging interdisciplinary intellectual engagement.

Max Fraser

PhD Yale University

Assistant Professor of History, University of Miami

Vanessa Freije freige_photo

PhD Duke University

Dissertation: "Journalists, Scandal, and the Unraveling of One-Party Rule in Mexico, 1960-1988"

Vanessa Freije is an Assistant Professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle where she teaches courses on censorship, Mexican history, and Intra-American relations. During her tenure with the Dartmouth Society of Fellows, she began the process of transforming her dissertation into a book manuscript. Entitled "Scandalous Democracy: Journalists and Citizenship in Mexico, 1962-1988," her book project explores political scandals and shifting ideas about democracy in late-twentieth century Mexico. She found the other junior fellows were an incredible resource and support system during this process.

James Godley

PhD University of Buffalo, SUNY

Lecturer in English, Dartmouth College

Sean Griffin

PhD University of California, Los Angeles

University Researcher, Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki

Kate Hall

PhD University of Minnesota

Lecturer in Politics & International Relations, Queen Mary University of London

During my time as a postdoctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows, I published a series of articles from my dissertation, "Lethal Surveillance: Drones and the Geo-History of Modern War" as well as began a related book project that extends one of the cases of my dissertation to study the early development of weaponized drones in the Interwar period in the UK. I also started research for a new second project on policing that examines the 1985 violent confrontation between MOVE and the city of Philadelphia. While at Dartmouth, I also taught two courses in the Department of Geography: "Power, Territoriality, and Political Geography" and "Geographies of Violence." At Queen Mary University of London, I am joining the School of Politics and International Relations where I will be teaching US Foreign Policy and War in World Politics.

Jared Harris

PhD University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Lecturer in Chemistry, Colorado College

In my one and a half years as a Dartmouth College Society of Fellows Junior Fellow, I explored novel research in the area of photoresponsive polymers, taught in organic and polymer chemistry courses, and partook in Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning’s programming. My literature research led to a publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., while my lab work opened new research directions in the Aprahamian Lab. Most important to my journey, I gained valuable teaching experience and training which I will carry forward to Colorado College, focusing solely on instruction while assisting with curriculum development. At Colorado College, my goals will shift to lowering the accessibility barriers commonly associated with the chemical sciences.

Yui Hashimoto

PhD University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Social Research Scientist with the Assessment, Policy Development, and Evaluation (APDE) Unit at Public Health Seattle King County

Joshua Kaiser

JD-PhD Northwestern University

Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Bess Koffman

PhD University of Maine

Assistant Professor of Geology, Colby College

I am teaching two courses this year: Paleoceanography and Earth's Climate: Past, Present, and Future. I am also continuing to work on several ice and climate-related research projects started while I was at Dartmouth, including investigations in Antarctica and the North Pacific.

As a Society of Fellows postdoc I gained valuable experience and confidence as a scholar and a teacher. The integrated experience of independent teaching and research, and the cross-discipinary conversations facilitated by the Society, set me up well for my current position at a liberal arts college. Moreover, my time at Dartmouth led to new collaborations that have been enjoyable and productive, and which have laid the groundwork for my research program over the next several years.

Yvonne Kwan

PhD University of California at Santa Cruz

Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies and Sociology
Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
College of Social Sciences
San Jose State University

This year, I am teaching Asian American history and Asian American communities. I am also working closely with my department to revamp and reconceptualize the Asian American Studies Program at SJSU. Currently, my main project is the book manuscript: Afterlives of Diaspora: Cambodian American Trauma and Memory. The Dartmouth Society of Fellows Program has been critical to my career now that I am on the tenure track because it gave me numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary intellectual engagement, research opportunities, and specialized time to conduct research, develop my teaching, and write. I cannot say enough about how much my cohort and the one after that have become not only key academic interlocutors but also lifelong friends.

Elizabeth Lhost