Neil M. Maher

Neil M. Maher is a Professor of History and Master Teacher in the Federated History Department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Rutgers University-Newark. He holds affiliations with multiple academic units including the Rutgers New Brunswick History Department, NJIT Science, Technology and Society Program, Rutgers Newark American Studies Program, and NJIT-Rutgers Newark Urban Systems Program. His office is located at 325 Cullimore Hall, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102.

Dr. Maher received his B.A. from Dartmouth College (1986), M.A. (1994), and Ph.D. (2001) in history from New York University. His education provided the foundation for his distinguished career focusing on the intersection of environmental and political history.

His research interests center on 20th century U.S. environmental history, political history, urban history, and the history of environmental justice. Maher's scholarship explores how the natural environment has mediated power relationships between people over time. His work examines environmental justice issues with particular attention to racial and environmental discrimination, especially in urban contexts like Newark, New Jersey.

His publications reveal a consistent focus on the connections between environmental policy, political movements, and social justice. The most recent articles demonstrate his expertise in space history's relationship to environmental consciousness, the Green New Deal's historical precedents, and urban environmental justice issues. His work spans academic journals, popular media like the New York Times and Washington Post, and scholarly books.

• Eugene M. Emme Book Award, American Astronautical Society, 2019
• Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award, Forest History Society, 2009
• Senior Fellow, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, 2019
• Charles Warren Center Fellowship, Harvard University, 2013-2014
• History of Scientific Exploration Research Award, NASA, 2008-2011
• John W. Kluge Center Research Fellowship, Library of Congress, 2008-2009
• Bloomberg View Must-Read Book (2017)

Dr. Maher has mentored numerous graduate students, with former PhD students securing positions at prestigious institutions including University of Connecticut, Bryn Mawr College, CUNY-Queens, and University of Illinois-Chicago. He received the Excellence in Advising Award (2009) from the NJIT undergraduate Student Senate and has secured significant research funding including a $650,000 Collaborative Research grant to establish the Community Data Equity AI Lab. His teaching focuses on environmental and political history, for which he received NJIT's highest teaching honors: Master Teacher designation (2019) and the Robert W. Van Houten Award for Teaching Excellence (2009).

He currently directs the Environmental Justice Mapping Project, a digital humanities initiative where students conduct primary research on environmental injustice sites and contribute to a publicly accessible digital archive. He also serves as co-director of the NJIT Distributed Technology Museum and co-coordinator of the At Home in Newark: Stories from the Queer Newark Oral History Project.