Sarah Bridger

Sarah Bridger is an Associate Professor in the History Department at California Polytechnic State University, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on 20th-century U.S. history, Cold War politics and science, labor movements, and ethical debates in scientific research.

Education: Ph.D. and M.Phil./M.A. from Columbia University, B.A. from Brown University.

Research Interests: She examines Cold War-era scientific ethics, labor history, and postwar science policy. Her book Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research (Harvard UP, 2015) won the 2016 Society for U.S. Intellectual History Book Award. Current research explores redefinitions of science in the 1970s, including activism, intellectual property, and citizen science.

Awards:

• Distinguished Lecturer, OAH (2018–present)
• ACLS Fellowship (2017–2018)
• Cal Poly Early Career Award (2015)
• Allan Nevins Dissertation Prize

Teaching: Courses include Cold War Science & Society, U.S. History since 1865, and Labor History. She advises graduate research projects and supervises readings for comprehensive exams.