David AP Womble

David AP Womble is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Houston's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. His research spans science, literature, and political theory across 18th–19th century Europe and the British Empire, with a focus on embodied mass behavior and thermodynamic thought.

• Ph.D., University of Chicago
• B.A., Duke University

Research Interests:
• Intersections of empire studies and ecocriticism
• Biopolitics and crowd theory in Victorian literature
• Thermodynamic energy in Enlightenment thought
• Catholic/Protestant epistemological conflicts in science
• Object-oriented ontology and literature's secular enchantment

Publication Trends: His work examines how scientific discourses (nervous systems, thermodynamics) shaped literary and political conceptualizations of masses, migration, and materiality. Recent scholarship connects energy systems to colonial demographics and object vitality.

Awards:

• William Lee Pryor College Professorship
• Multiple fellowships (Blair, Nicholson, Duke)
• Excellence in Writing Pedagogy award

Teaching: Undergraduate courses on Romantic Movement, Victorian Age, and modern novel history. Graduate seminars explore 19th-century studies and literature's vital force.