معرفی
Pey-Yi Chu is an Associate Professor of History at Pomona College, part of The Claremont Colleges, where she has been teaching since 2012. She is affiliated with the Department of History within the College of Arts and Sciences, focusing on modern Europe, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union through the lenses of environmental history and the history of science.
Education:
- Ph.D. in History, Princeton University, 2011
- M.A. in History, Princeton University, 2006
- B.A. in History, Stanford University, 2003
Her research investigates how environmental, geopolitical, and intellectual contexts in northern Eurasia shaped scientific understandings of frozen earth, particularly permafrost. She explores the interplay between colonial expansion, industrialization in Siberia, and Soviet systems thinking, analyzing how these forces influenced global scientific discourse during the Cold War. Her work bridges environmental history, science and technology studies, and transnational history.
Chu's publications reveal a consistent focus on Cold War environmental science, Arctic knowledge production, and the historical construction of ecological concepts. Her articles and book examine the evolution of permafrost as both a physical phenomenon and a cultural-scientific construct, highlighting its significance in planetary systems and human adaptation. The trend across her work emphasizes interdisciplinary engagement with climate, science, and empire.
Scientific Awards:
- W. Bruce Lincoln Book Prize (co-winner) for The Life of Permafrost
Chu has received research support from prestigious organizations including the U.S. Department of Education, the Social Science Research Council, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. While no formal student advising list is provided, she teaches courses such as Modern Europe since 1789, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, and Climate in History, indicating active mentorship in historical scholarship.
She is engaged in ongoing research on Russian Imperial and Soviet scientific expeditions in Central Asia and the Eastern Bloc's role in the International Biological Program of the 1960s–70s, contributing to broader understandings of socialist environmental science.
