Deborah Fitzgerald

Deborah Fitzgerald is the Leverett Howell and William King Cutten Professor of the History of Technology at MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society. She holds a Ph.D. in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and previously served as Kenan Sahin Dean of MIT's School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (2006-2015).

• B.A. in History and English, Iowa State University (1978)
• Ph.D. in History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania (1985)

Her research examines the transformation of American agriculture through industrialization, focusing on institutional frameworks, rural modernization, and the intersection of technology, economics, and ecology. Current work explores WWII-era food industrialization.

She has co-sponsored the MIT Seminar in Environmental and Agricultural History since 2006. Her notable scientific award includes the 2003 Theodore Saloutos Prize from the Agricultural History Society for Every Farm a Factory, which analyzes the adoption of industrial principles in agriculture during the 1920s.