Matthew Wolf-Meyer

Matthew Wolf-Meyer is a Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. His interdisciplinary scholarship bridges anthropology, medical humanities, and disability studies, with a focus on personhood, care, and neurodiversity in American contexts.

His research critically examines how health, disability, and subjectivity are culturally and historically constructed. Key themes include sleep, psychiatric classification, speculative futures, and affective bioethics. Wolf-Meyer's work is grounded in ethnographic, archival, and textual analysis, often drawing on feminist materialist and anti-ableist frameworks.

His recent publications span journals such as Annual Review of Anthropology, Medical Humanities, and American Ethnologist, reflecting a strong trajectory in medical anthropology and STS. The articles demonstrate a consistent focus on reimagining personhood, challenging medical norms, and centering marginalized experiences—particularly in neurodiverse and psychotic subjectivities.

Wolf-Meyer is also the author of three major books: The Slumbering Masses (2012), Theory for the World to Come (2019), and Unraveling (2020), which have significantly contributed to discussions on sleep, speculative fiction as social theory, and neurological personhood. He was a founding editor of the open-access journal reconstruction and is a contributing editor to Somatosphere.

He advises on inclusive research practices and care ethics, and his work often engages with policy, design, and public discourse. Wolf-Meyer has no listed scientific awards in the provided texts, but his sustained publication record and editorial roles indicate significant scholarly impact.

He maintains an active professional presence through his website (matthewwolfmeyer.com) and ORCID (0000-0001-7249-9726), and is deeply involved in mentoring and curriculum development as Undergraduate Program Director.