Through industrialization, humans transformed the world, introducing social and environmental changes of unprecedented scope, scale, and speed that continue to impact us today. Industrial archaeologists study the history and heritage of industry, including its roots, evolution, and the patchy decline of postindustrial places. At Michigan Tech, Industrial Archeology—MS and Industrial Heritage—PhD (IEE) degree students use interdisciplinary studies of the material remains and social memories of industrial workplaces, landscapes, and communities. Our research focuses on the social, political, and ecological construction of technological systems. We also examine the patrimony of industrial societies, considering how communities cope with the onset, effort, and consequences of industrial wealth production.
IEE Research In the News
Affiliated Organizations
Researchers
- Teaching Professor, History & Anthropology
- Anthropology Program Advisor
- cblair@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3625
- AOB 222 (Spring 23' Office Hours Mondays 11am-12pm & Wednesdays 2-3pm)
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
- Department Chair, Social Sciences
- Director, Geospatial Research Facility
- Associate Professor of Geography and GIS
- djlafren@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2189
- AOB 215 (Spring 23' Office Hours Tuesdays 9-11am)
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
- Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Social Sciences
- Affiliated Professor, CFRES
- nelangs3@mtu.edu
- AOB 220 (Spring 23' Office Hours Wednesdays 11am-1pm)
Areas of Interest
- Toxics, forested watersheds, and northern lakes
- Environmental history
- Watershed change and water quality
- Mining history
- Professor Emerita of Anthropology, Social Sciences
Links of Interest
Research Interests
- Environmental anthropology/political ecology
- Anthropology of industry (mining, sugar)
- Hawai`i and the Pacific
- Anthropology of public policy
- Professor Emeritus of Archaeology
- pemartin@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2070
- Annex 205
Areas of Expertise
- Industrial archaeology
- Industrial heritage
- Historical archaeology
- Professor of History (retired)
- flquivik@mtu.edu
- 906-523-5127
- Academic Office Building 209
Areas of Expertise
- History of Technology
- Environmental History
- Architectural History
- Industrial Archeology
- History of the Organization of Industrial Enterprises
- Associate Professor of History
- jrobins@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3080
- AOB 223 (Spring 23' Office Hours Wednesdays 1-3pm)
Areas of Expertise
- Commodity history
- Global economic and business history
- History of colonialism
- Food history
"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.
- Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology
- scarlett@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2359
- AOB 210 (Spring 23' Office Hours Mondays 9-11am)
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
- Associate Professor of Sociology
- Affiliated Associate Professor, CFRES
- cschelly@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1759
- AOB 200A (Spring 23' Office Hours Mondays and Thursdays at 10am)
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
"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.
- Associate Professor of Anthropology & Archaeology
- srsweitz@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1476
- AOB 213 (Spring 23' Office Hours Tuesdays and Thursdays 11am - 12pm)
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)
- Associate Professor of History
- sawalton@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3272
- AOB 224 (Spring 23' Office Hours Mondays 3-4pm & Tuesdays 11am-12pm)
Areas of Expertise
- history of technology
- history of science
- artillery, fortification, ordnance
- history of engineering
- military history
- Early Modern European history
- 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