David Sepkoski

David Sepkoski is the Thomas M. Siebel Endowed Chair and Professor in the Department of History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the history of scientific and cultural debates surrounding human nature, the biological basis of difference, and the cultural and technological history of electronic music. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship for his project on 'The Politics of Human Nature.'

Education:

• PhD, History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota
• MA, Social Sciences, University of Chicago
• BA, Carleton College

Research interests include the history of data and information, as well as the intersections between science and culture. His recent publications include Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity (2020) and Rereading the Fossil Record (2012).

He is affiliated with the Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science at the University of Chicago, furthering interdisciplinary collaboration in the history of science.