Professor Johnson reguarly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the history and Philosophy of science and technology, including a Manhattan Project seminar, as well as engineering ethics, environmental history, and the Western Civilization survey. Her first book 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 ; tentatively titled, Designing ABS: Engineering Culture and the Production of Knowledge.

Current Activities:

My research focuses on small, project-oriented, engineering communities in the post-WWII world. It strikes me that computer-aided design and engineering have changed the nature and function of engineering communities and have modified what it means for an engineer to design and, more profoundly, to know. For my next project, I'm beginning to examine computer simulations in engineering practice, looking at the ways they work through interdisciplinary communities and more broadly, how computers have shaped engineering design, R&D, and engineering ethics. I've published on finite element methods and an article on computer-aided chemical process is in press. Another episode, which I am examining right now, concerns the development of simulations of nanostructured materials to design novel materials which, to date, often exist only on the computer screen.