Neil M. Maher

Neil M. Maher is a Professor of History in the Federated History Department at Rutgers University-Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). He holds dual appointments and has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Robert W. Van Houten Award for Teaching Excellence (2009) and the Master Teacher designation (2019). His research focuses on environmental history, political history, and environmental justice, with notable works like Nature’s New Deal (2008) and Apollo in the Age of Aquarius (2017). Maher is currently researching an environmental justice history of Newark, supported by fellowships from Princeton University and the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center. He leads the Community Data Equity AI Lab (Community-DEAL), collaborating with the Newark Water Coalition to address water quality issues.

His teaching spans undergraduate and graduate courses on environmental inequality, urban history, and the 1960s era. Notable students include Mars Plater (Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut-Stanford) and Sara Grossman (Assistant Professor at Bryn Mawr College). Maher’s community engagement includes creating the Environmental Justice Mapping Project, an interactive digital archive of post-WWII environmental injustice sites.

Research interests include the Civilian Conservation Corps, Apollo Program critiques, and urban environmental racism. His recent articles analyze Green New Deal frameworks and New Deal legacies. Maher has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, and PBS documentaries, and serves as a historical consultant for educational media like Mission-US video games.