Programs
Graduate Working Groups
History of Life Sciences & Environmental Sciences Working Group
Coordinators: Lukas Rieppel and Karin Isaacson
The History of the Life Sciences and Environmental Sciences (LSESWG) Working Group meets regularly with the intent of bringing together graduate students, faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and visiting scholars for stimulating interaction with each other. It is organized by graduate students of the department with consultation from faculty. We discuss recent literature in the field, classic books and monographs, and other materials important to our areas of research. Our primary aim is to encourage the presentation of on-going research. Graduate students of the department give reports on their research as it emerges from their dissertations and/or special projects. Similarly, scholars visiting from other institutions at graduate student and faculty levels are invited to give presentations of their work in progress to solicit informed feedback and to engage in interaction with a local group.
An important part of our program is providing practice for conference presentations and job talks. Last semester we gave lively feedback to three graduate students before they spoke at the annual conference in November of the History of Science Society at Vancouver. This current spring other graduate students are presenting practice papers. Drafts of articles by both faculty and graduate students are also presented for discussion. Several times a year we invite specific scholars from other nearby universities or those on longer trips to make a detour through Cambridge and present new work or to raise questions emerging in the.' fields of the history ofthe life sciences and environmental studies. In the coming year we hope to include a session on writing and publishing in the life sciences (two of our senior members are former journal editors), and in the spring semester to discuss a text or exhibition with a pedagogical element. Occasionally we may join forces with other, working groups in the department to hear invited speakers of special interest. The working group also fosters interdisciplinary communication across traditional academic boundaries.
