Teaches the history of science and technology with particular interests in scientific practice and the history of engineering.

Professor Johnson, who holds a joint appoint with the Department of Philosophy, regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the history and philosophy of science and technology, the modern European survey, and--for philosophy-- engineering ethics. She has also taught courses on the 20th century global economy, comparative environmental history, World War II and the Manhattan Project. Her first book, Designing ABS: Engineering Culture and the Production of Knowledge, is under contract with Duke University Press, and it details the design and development of Antilock braking systems for passenger cars from the 1950s through the 1970s. She also recently published an article on US science policy since Reagan, "The End of Pure Science? From Bayh-Dole to the National Nanotechnology Initiative" in an edited volume titled Discovering the Nanoscale.

Current Activities

My research focuses on small, project-oriented, engineering communities. I call these knowledge communities, as they are defined by both their social and epistemological structures. My ABS book is the first attempt at working with this framework, and I have followed it up with a still-in-progress book-length study of the development of engineering practices in 19th century America, focusing on large public works projects. I am giving a chapter from this project, titled "Surveying the Nation: Engineers, Surveyors, and the American Landscape in the Early Republic" at the Hagley Museum in February 2006.

My next project will focus on the role of computers in present-day engineering practice, looking at the formation and structure of interdisciplinary communities and more broadly, how computers are shaping engineering design, R&D and engineering ethics. As part of this work, I've published articles on finite element methods, computer-aided chemical process design and computational nanotechnology. I am also a co-PI on two Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Team grants from the NSF, which aim to understand the ways that scientific and engineering practices are developing in nanoscale research.

Ann Johnson