Faculty
Melissa F. Baird
- Associate Professor of Anthropology
- Graduate Director, Social Sciences
- mfbaird@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2366
- Academic Office Building 209A
Research Interests
- Extractive zones
- Critical heritage
- Forensic heritage
- Expert knowledge
- Ethnographic methods
- Politics of archaeology
Carl Blair
- Teaching Professor, History & Anthropology
- Anthropology Program Advisor
- cblair@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3625
- Academic Office Building 222
Links of Interest
Research Interests
- Experimental Archaeology
- Early Large scale iron production
- Roman and Anglo-Saxon England
- Rise of socially complex societies
- International program development
Angie Carter (she/her)
- Associate Professor, Environmental/Energy Justice
- Please note: Not accepting new graduate students 2023-2024
- ancarter@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1431
- Academic Office Building
Areas of Expertise
- Environmental & rural sociology
- Community-based and participatory research
- Social movements and social change
- Gender & ecofeminism
- Agrifood systems
Kathy Halvorsen
- Associate Vice President for Research Development
- University Professor of Natural Resource Policy
- Joint Appointment in Social Sciences and CFRES
- kehalvor@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3098
- Lakeshore Center 304
Areas of Expertise
- Climate change mitigation policy
- Arctic climate change impacts
- Energy conservation policy
- Renewable energy policy
- Indigeneity and climate policy
Kathryn L. Hannum
- Assistant Teaching Professor
- Coordinator of Student Programs
- Policy and Community Development Program Advisor
- khannum@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2824
- Academic Office Building 225
Research Interests
- National Identity
- Migration and Diaspora
- Sociolinguistics
- Memorial Landscapes
- Geographies of Sport
Regional Focus
- The Hispanic World
- Spain
- Argentina
Kari B. Henquinet
- Teaching Professor
- Peace Corps Prep Program Director
- Sustainability Science and Society Program Advisor
- kbhenqui@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2116
- AOB 226
Areas of Expertise
- International/transnational development
- Faith-based development
- Gender
- Human rights
- Global service learning
- African studies (Niger)
- Disaster risk reduction and vulnerability
Don Lafreniere
- Department Chair, Social Sciences
- Director, Geospatial Research Facility
- Associate Professor of Geography and GIS
- djlafren@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2189
- AOB 215/GLRC 318
Research Interests
- Environmental Change and Life Course Epidemiology
- Urban Environments and Population Health
- Public Participatory GIS
- Historical GIS & Deep Mapping
- Spatial Humanities
- Deindustrialization and Shrinking Cities
- Time-Space Integration and Modeling in GIS
- Demography and Historical Record Linkage
- Sense of Place and Neighborhood Construction
Nancy Langston
- Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Social Sciences
- Affiliated Professor, CFRES
- nelangs3@mtu.edu
- Academic Office Building 220
Areas of Interest
- Toxics, forested watersheds, and northern lakes
- Environmental history
- Watershed change and water quality
- Mining history
"Every artist, every scientist, must decide NOW where they stand. They have no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction-in certain countries-of the greatest of human literary heritages, through the propagation of false ideas of racial and national superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged. The struggle invades the formerly cloistered halls of our universities and other seats of learn
Mark Alan Rhodes II
- Assistant Professor of Geography
- marhodes@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2459
- Academic Office Building 211
Research Interests
- Post-Industrial Geographies & Heritage
- National Identity in the 21st Century
- Cultural Sustainability and Sustainable Tourism
- Political Ecology, Place, & Memory
- Critical Geographies & Memorial Landscapes
Areas of Expertise
- Memory and Memorialization
- Heritage Institutions
- Cultural Landscape
- Welsh Studies
- Historical Geography
- Cultural Geographies
Jonathan E. Robins
- Associate Professor of History
- Book review editor, Agricultural History
- jrobins@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3080
- Academic Office Building 223
Areas of Expertise
- Commodity history
- Global economic and business history
- History of colonialism
- Food history
Laura Walikainen Rouleau
- Associate Teaching Professor
- History Program Advisor
- lwrouleau@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2870
- Academic Office Building 212
Mark D. Rouleau
- Associate Professor, Social Sciences
- mdroulea@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2039
- Academic Office Building 205
Research Interests
- Interdisciplinary studies
- Social simulation (agent-based modeling)
- Policy analysis
- International relations
- Sustainability assessment
- Complex adaptive systems
- Norm evolution and social influence
- STEM education evaluation
- Research design and methods
Sarah Fayen Scarlett
- Associate Professor of History
- sfscarle@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2110
- Academic Office Building 221
Research Interests
- Spatial, material, and experiential aspects of social power in industrial communities
- Historical GIS for Community-Engaged Scholarship
- American Vernacular Architecture and Material Culture Studies
- Public History, Historic Preservation, and Museums
- History of Design, Craft, and Production in the United States
- Cultural Landscapes and Historic Architecture of the Keweenaw
"Whereas innovation, in the backwards reading of creativity, lies outside of time, improvisation, in a forward reading, is inherently temporal."
—Elizabeth Hallam and Tim Ingold (2007) Creativity and Cultural Improvisation. Berg, New York.
—Elizabeth Hallam and Tim Ingold (2007) Creativity and Cultural Improvisation. Berg, New York.
Timothy J. Scarlett
- Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology
- scarlett@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2359
- Academic Office Building 210
Links of Interest
Research Interests
- Historical and Industrial Archaeologies
- Creativity and Work Process
- Archaeometry and Conservation Sciences
- Remote Sensing, Survey, and Geospatial Sciences
- Community-based scholarship, public science/humanities
- Heritage, Placemaking, and Culture Building
Chelsea Schelly
- Associate Professor of Sociology
- Affiliated Associate Professor, CFRES
- cschelly@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1759
- Academic Office Building 200A
Links of Interest
Research Interests
- Alternative technology adoption
- Renewable energy technologies
- Renewable and alternative technology policy
- Sustainable communities
- Energy conservation and consumption practices
- Self-provisioning
- Environmental education
Roman Sidortsov
- Associate Professor, Energy Policy
- rsidortsov@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1095
- Academic Office Building 206
Research Interests
- Sustainable Energy Systems
- Energy Security and Justice
- Risk Governance of the Energy Sector
- Arctic Energy Development
- Russian Energy Policy
- U.S. Energy Policy
Areas of Expertise
- Energy and Environmental Policy
- Comparative and International Energy Law
- U.S. Energy Law
- U.S. Environmental Law
- Russian Energy and Environmental Law
- Energy Geopolitics
"All this information, this material, must be taken up and reconsidered in the light of man himself, and one must try if possible, to rediscover, beyond all the details, life itself... Everything must be recaptured and relocated in the general framework of history, so that...we may respect the unity of history which is also the unity of life."
—Fernand Braudel, On History, 1980.
—Fernand Braudel, On History, 1980.
Sam R. Sweitz
- Associate Professor of Anthropology & Archaeology
- srsweitz@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1476
- Academic Office Building 213
Research Interests
- Historical and Industrial Archaeology
- Social, Economic, and Political Dimensions of Haciendas, Plantations, and Industrial Communities in the American West, Latin America, and the Caribbean
- Issues Related to Colonialism, World-Systems Analysis, post-Colonialism, and Globalization
- Relevance of Archaeology and Heritage to Identity Formation and Contemporary Social Systems
"I find it astonishing that any man can regard fine machinery without admiration."
—John William Stone (in Stones Fall, by Iain Pears)
—John William Stone (in Stones Fall, by Iain Pears)
Steven A. Walton
- Associate Professor of History
- sawalton@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3272
- Academic Office Building 224
Areas of Expertise
- history of technology
- history of science
- artillery, fortification, ordnance
- history of engineering
- military history
- Early Modern European history
"Academics are the only people I can think of for whom this sentence makes sense: 'I'm hoping to get some time off so that I can get some work done.'"
—Sidney Verba
—Sidney Verba
Adam M. Wellstead
- Professor of Public Policy, Social Sciences
- awellste@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2115
- Academic Office Building 227
Links of Interest
Areas of Expertise
- Policy advisory systems
- Governance and political mechanisms
- Survey research
- Policy process frameworks
Areas of Interest
- Canadian Energy and Environmental Issues
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Oil Sands Development
- Forest Policy
- Canadian Studies
- Policy Innovation Labs
- Policy Design
Richelle L. Winkler
- Professor of Sociology and Demography, Social Sciences
- Social Sciences Undergraduate Studies Director
- rwinkler@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1886
- Academic Office Building 217
Areas of Expertise
- Rural Sociology
- Population and Environment
- Environmental Sociology
- Community Engaged Scholarship
- Internal Migration
- GIS and spatial analysis
LouAnn Wurst
- Professor of Archaeology
- lawurst@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3188
- Academic Office Building 216
Research Interests
- Historical and Industrial Archaeology
- Archaeology of Capitalism
- Class and Inequality
- Marxist Theory
- Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource Management
Shan Zhou
- Assistant Professor, Environmental and Energy Policy
- shanzhou@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2864
- Academic Office Building 203
Fields
Environmental and Energy Policy
Research Interests
- Environmental & Energy Policy
- Smart Grids, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency & Green Buildings
- Sustainable Technology Adoption & Diffusion
- Environmental and Energy Justice
- Urban and Local Sustainability
- Policy Processes
- Policy Analysis
Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty
Valoree Gagnon
- Director, University-Indigenous Community Partnerships, Great Lakes Research Center
- Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
- vsgagnon@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2180
- Noblet Building 168
Research Interests
- University-Community Partnerships, research engagement, and equitable practice and design
- Environmental Justice and Policy, toxic substances, risk management, and promoting holistic health
- Indigenous / Native American Studies, treaties and the government-to-government relationship, food sovereignty, and Indigenous wisdom in the Great Lakes region
- Environmental Stewardship and the Seven Generations Philosophy
Todd Holmstrom
- Instructor, Social Sciences
Research Interests
- Expanding the Benefits of Globalization and Addressing its Deleterious Effects
- Facilitating Inclusive Economic Growth and Development
- Empowering Agents of Positive Change and Innovation
- Energy Independence
- Resolving Intractable Problems and Conflict
Areas of Professional Expertise
- International Relations
- Foreign Policy
- National Security Strategy
- International Economic Policy
Daniel Trepal
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
- Senior Geospatial Research Scientist
- djtrepal@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3580
- GLRC 318
Education
- PhD, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, Michigan Technological University
- MS, Industrial Archaeology, Michigan Technological University
- BS, Anthropology and History, Cleveland State University
Research Interests
- Industrial and Urban Archaeology
- Historical GIS
- Deindustrialization
- Industrial Landscapes
- The Archaeology of Brownfields
- Spatial Analysis of Historical Industrial Pollutants
- Big Data Approaches to Archaeology
- Publicly-engaged Scholarship